The Legend of Spyro, The Final Defeat
by the-Golden-Dragon-wolf
Summary: My very first fan fic ever. Based after tLoS DotD, Follows Spyro and Cynder plus my own O/C's. So please review and be nice. Rated for coarse language, gore, and lemons. for those that want 2 skip to chap 5 i dont blame u
1. Chapter 1

The view was amazing. 'Well everything looks better from above' Jade thought. The radio crackled "King Air Delta Golf November 521, rise to 20,000 feet and continue on a heading of 179. Melbourne tower out." Entering the new altitude into the autopilot, he replied "Melbourne tower, confirmed rise to 20,000 feet. King Air DGN 521 out." Slowly the nose of the plane rose. Looking out across the co-pilots window and Jade could see the dark city of Geelong. The city had been abandoned since the outbreak of Lilker virus twelve years ago. Over one hundred thousand people were killed in the first week of it spreading to the city, the military set up blockades ten kilometres in every direction of the city and declared it a dead zone a few days later. But by then the rest of the city had been infected…

The crackling radio interrupted his thoughts, "DGN leaving my airspace, tune to Melbourne Centre on 123.8 for the rest of your flight." Surprised at the distance covered already, Jade replied, "Melbourne tower, King Air DGN 521. Tuning to Melbourne Centre on 123.8." After tuning to the channel and reporting in Jade was bored. It was an hour flight from Melbourne to Smithton, and the plane was only just light enough to get off the ground. The fuel was at an absolute minimum, enough to get the plane off the ground and to Smithton airport. No room for mistakes and in this old plane, a mistake would be catastrophic.

The cargo was the reason for the low fuel, even Jade was added into the weight of the plane so that it took of just one and a half kilos under the maximum take off weight. On the records the cargo is five Bushmaster ACR assault rifles with twenty loaded clips, five Usp .45 pistols with ten clips, twenty-nine universal gun cleaning kits, seven military grade handheld navigators, three sets of dumbbells and a small bio fuels plant. Part of that is true. There are five Bushmaster ACR assault rifles with ammo, twenty-nine cleaning kits, a bio fuels plant and Jade was carrying an Usp.45 with seven clips. Several top secret experimental ground to air missiles, fifteen experimental nitrogen charged grenades, and stolen Korean new generation communication equipment was the actual cargo on the plane. Switching over to the military's communication channel Jade called in.

The plane's cargo was top secret, but the military wasn't about to assume that everything was going to go to plan. Four supersonic jets were performing 'training' exercises around Kings Island, two Hobart class frigates were in the Bass Strait and to top it off Jade's superiors had made him wear V grade Dragon Skin body armour and carry a weapon. Grimacing at the need for protection Jade called in, "Command this is Big Bird, how are the skies looking?" looking out in front for any sign of the four jets. "Big Bird this is command, the skies are clear and the waters fine. What's your status?" Came the immediate reply. "Command, All systems normal, wait… is there a fog bank below me?"

"Ah... Negative. Why do you ask?"

"There is a… ah, well on my radar I got a… well it must be clouds or a fog bank…"

"Big Bird, this is Falcon one. I've got it on my radar to. Can you see it?"

"No. Its one kilometre over the horizon and it's getting closer. Wait. It's gone. Falcon one do you have the contact?"

"Negative Big Bird, it's just gone."

From the military base at Smithton, command had fallen silent. They had lost contact with one of the frigates. Staring at the screens in front of them all, in disbelief, an entire frigate… gone. Later in the week the search for the ship will find nothing. Not an oil slick or a life raft, as if the ship had vanished into thin air.

It took several minutes for the loss to sink in, and when it did… command issued a code Black… "Falcon one, move your squadron up to flanking position. We've just lost the Saints Cure." As soon as that call came out, the four jets were streaming towards Big Bird. And the surviving Hobart class frigate scrambled its two attack helicopters and initiated a code red alert for all crew. In the cockpit of Big Bird, it was silent. Jade had gone to check the cargo as some of it was moving around in the light turbulence, he was completely un-aware of the drama un-folding around him. Moving through the packed cargo area, checking each for signs of loose cargo Jade started to wonder 'whether this was going to be a simple take-off, fly to the destination, land, and go home mission.' Something he had a hard time finding nowadays. Towards the end of the plane Jade found something that wasn't there when he did his check of the cargo before takeoff. 'Hmm… They must have put this on after then.' He thought. The wooden crate seemed rather inconspicuous despite the fact it was nearly the largest crate on board… He noticed a lose strap attached to the floor of the plane. He leant down, trying to reach the strap, when a bit of turbulence jolted the plane. Hitting his head again the cargo gave off an immediate effect "Fuck!" Grinding his teeth he reached down to the strap and pulled it taut. Rubbing his head he moved forward through the cramped cargo area. When he got to the cockpit the windows had fogged up and the out side temperature had dropped to negative nine. Switching on the pilot heat; wing, engine and tail de-ice before he was even in his seat. As an alarm sounded. Not needing any further persuasion he flicked off the auto pilot and sent the plane into a nose dive.

Outside the plane the weather continued to deteriorate, what had been a lovely day turned into a raging storm with winds up to one hundred and twenty kilometres an hour, blanketing snow and poor visibility. Pulling out of the dive and slamming the throttle to full, narrowly avoiding the deadly stall, now at 14,000 feet he levelled off. Putting on his head set he tried to contact command. "Command this is Big Bird, where did that storm come from?" static was the only that came through the head set. "Command, this is Big Bird. Come in!" more static "Command!" A sudden jerk of the plane reminded Jade of the weather. Looking around the cockpit for anything that could help, flaps zero, radar blank, engines… shit. Staring at the fuel flow to number two engine, before he slowly realised what was wrong. It had run out of fuel. Looking at the fuel indicators and he got an even worse idea of what he was faced with. There was enough fuel to power the remaining engine for, maybe two minutes. Suddenly the sky in front of the plane was lit up in an amazing display of lightening. Then the hail started. The plane was buffeted. The resulting sound was deafening (and this was from some-one that regularly used loud guns), then plane lost what little control it had. And went into a nose dive.

Plummeting down, from 14,000 feet gives you lots of time to think about what you everything did in your life, your mistakes, your joys and well… everything. But Jade didn't think about it. He was fighting the plane for control the whole time. At 10,000 feet he gained control, and pulled out of the dive, they plane was travelling well over its 'Do not exceed speed' so Jade pulled back on the throttle and applied the speed brakes. Again the lightening flashed, lighting up the mountain in front of the plane, in a dark outline of blue. Pulling hard to the left the plane rolled, its belly clipping the mountain. But it couldn't pull out. It rolled once before its left wing hit a tree, spinning the plane to the ground. The left wing was literally ripped off, throwing the plane on its tail before it rolled over on its shattered wing. The plane hit a small out cropping and flipped onto its belly, before slowly sliding to a stop a few hundred meters away from the cliff. The body of the plane was mostly intact, but the plane would never fly again. One wing was lying in pieces across the trench the plane had dug, the other was bent at a 30 degree angle and the tail piece had sheared off. The storm continued to rage bursting into the cockpit through the shattered windows. Lightening flashed around the plane, lighting up the valley in spectacular shades of blue. From the trees on the other side of the valley a tribe was sending out scouts to investigate the deafening crash and the strange lights in the sky. As they were preparing to leave the village the storm subsided, opening up to an eerie full moon and brilliant star filled sky.

The first thing Jade noticed as he woke from unconsciousness was that his head was numb. The next was the cold breeze sifting through the window. Opening his eyes he could see the shattered glass lying on everything. Moving his arm out of the gap between the seat and the side of the plane, he noticed the fresh blood on his chest. Moving slowly he unstrapped himself from the seat. His leg was numb were his gun had pressed into it and his lower body was soaked. Lifting his arm up to his head and he could feel the blood in his hair. 'Great.' He thought. Slowly he got out of the seat, turned to the back of the cockpit and slowly moved along the dark cabin towards a hatch that had crumpled in the crash. As he climbed out of the wreckage he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise. Realising he was been watched he half leapt, half fell from the wreckage, jarring his knee in the process. But that didn't stop him pulling out his pistol.

Lying in the muddy ditch next to the wrecked right wing, Jade listened intently for any noise in the dark. Apart from the continuous gurgle of the nearby creek and the hooting of owls the place was silent. But that feeling of being watch lingered. Slowly he rolled over to look the other way. Looking out across the small green valley lit by moon light, he couldn't see anything unusual, except the fragments for the wing that had over flown the crashed plane. But he kept looking until he could swear the ground was shaking. Looking back at the plane he realised the ground was shaking, and that it was getting stronger. Getting up out of the ditch, he started running to a group of trees about ten metres away from the wreaked plane. He only got a few metres before the ground around him erupted in a shower of dirt. From the other side of the river, three figures were drawing their bows.

Blinded by the shower of dirt, he stumbled back towards the plane. Desperately trying to get the dirt out of his eyes, he continued to stumble back. Opening his eyes enough to see a blurred figure about the height of his knee, charging at him, 'no time to think, aim to kill!' Raising the pistol he fired wildly in the direction of the charging shape. The first shot was wide, the second hit it in the chest ripping it open in a fountain of blood, the third in the arm and the fourth was to low. Rubbing his eyes some more trying to get rid of the excess dirt, he could feel the ground under his feet moving again. Moving back to safety of the plane, rubbing his eyes the whole way, by the time he got there he could see a little better.

Four small explosions of dirt came up thirty metres away from the plane. Levelling his sights with the closest creature and then… 'Click' "Oh fuck. This can't be happening." The gun had jammed. He started tugging at the action trying to get it free, but it wouldn't budge. The creatures were seven meters away from the plane, now he slammed the gun again the side of the plane, it came loose and fired. Swinging the gun back around to the creatures moving towards him, the shot went through the creature and hit the one behind it, in simultaneous jerks their backs burst open from the force of the bullet. The next shot hit the third fair in the face, collapsing it on itself. The last shot hit the forth and then ricocheted of a rock and hit the plane with a small 'clink'.

_I know that the story doesn't mention Spyro or Cynder yet, I decided to have alternation chapters for them until they meet later on in the story, so just hang with me on this…_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 (those three words…)

Spyro woke to the warm morning light filtering through the treetops. It had being a two days since he and Cynder had stopped the Dark Master and saved the world. Slowly opening his eyes, to come face to face with Cynder, she was still asleep and he didn't want to wake her. Instead he watched as she slowly inhaled and exhaled. Edging closer to Cynder, Spyro began to drift back into his world of dreams. As the morning sun slowly rose to an early afternoon heat, Cynder woke from her deep sleep. Startled by Spyro's warm breath on her face she moved away, waking Spyro.

Spyro yawned widely before flashing a smile at Cynder. Cynder meekly smiling back, as Spyro sat up and examined the rising sun. Regretting waking Spyro, Cynder moved up to talk to him. His thoughts were back when he had saved the world, when Cynder had said those three words that changed everything. "I love you" Did she mean it? Did I imagine it? Do I love her? "We should go back to the Dragon City." Startled by Cynder's voice, Spyro jumped. She didn't seem to notice so he agreed and they set off for Warfang.

During the flight Cynder and Spyro were both silent, consumed in their own minds. Neither would admit it but they were both thinking about what Cynder had said. Cynder's thoughts were travelling nearly as fast as she was. 'Did he hear what I said? Did I mean it? Does he love me? What happens if he doesn't? What happens now? Do I ask him? Do I wait? "Cynder," said Spyro, "Yes Spyro." Looking up at Spyro, Cynder noticed that he was stuck for words. "Can we set down over there? I… I need a rest." Surprised at Spyro for tiring so quickly, Cynder agreed. As they landed in a small clearing, both dragons became un-nerved, Cynder at Spyro's unusual behaviour, and Spyro because he needed to know something. "Cynder, there is something I wanted to ask you." Suddenly Cynder realized why Spyro wanted to come down. "Spyro…" started Cynder, they caught each others eyes and at that moment they knew. Spyro moved up to Cynder and put his head next to hers. "Cynder… I love you to." With that he gave her a little kiss on the cheek, and both dragons blushed.

When the Dragon City came into view it was clear that it had taken a beating from the last battle, great pillars of smoke still rose from the city. Spyro and Cynder moved down from their normal flying height, down to just above the ground. This way they wouldn't be seen by anything in the city that could do them harm until they were close enough to return fire. The two dragons skilfully dodged and skimmed around the many obstacles in their way. Landing behind the remnants of siege engine in front of the main gate to the city, Cynder started to whisper as soon as her feet touched the ground. "Which way?" Spyro paused before answering, "We should take the left passage, it isn't very well known so if there is… anything, inside the city. We can take them by surprise." Cynder looked off to her left, the city's outer wall stretched off into the distance, remnants of the last battle still littered the ground. "Okay, lets go." She whispered, before dashing off to the cover of the wall. As the two dragons dashed quickly to the cover of the wall, a pair of eyes glittered from inside of the city.

"Hurry up," Spyro looked over his shoulder at the black dragon lagging behind him, "you need to open the gate from the inside." As Cynder reached the heavy metal gate, she disappeared into the shadows. Spyro wasn't concerned at all. Staring into the gloom in the entrance Spyro caught sight of the black dragon pushing on the lever to open the door. With a 'Clunk' the door opened. Spyro moved into the darkness of the passage way, Cynder appeared beside him. "Do you feel it?" asked Cynder. "Yes. I feel it. But I don't see it"

"Should we go to the other entrance?" whispered Cynder, "No," Spyro whispered back "they'll know and just go to the other entrance before we get through. We'll have to push forward through here." Seeing the logic in this Cynder started to edge towards the side of the tunnel, Spyro did the same on the other side. And slowly the two dragons moved towards the other end of the tunnel. When they were so far in that they couldn't use the light from the entrance to guide them, Spyro used his fire breath. From here on in there was no point hiding along the walls, so they moved in to the centre. After a few minutes of light Spyro had to rest, and that was when the creatures moved. Spyro and Cynder were outnumbered two to thirteen, although they wouldn't find out until after the attack. In the pitch blackness the creatures had the advantage, and with Spyro so tired from lighting the tunnel he wasn't in much of a condition to fight. But that didn't deter the dragons, Cynder managed to knock down five of the attackers before being caught, and Spyro got two. But in the confinements of the tunnel they didn't have much of a chance. With their legs tied together and their wings chained to their bodies the dragons were dragged out of the tunnel into the city.

In the light the dragons could see their captors, two orks and four grublins. One of the grublins was limping badly and the orks had several cuts on their arms. But the pain from the wounds was suppressed by the happiness of capturing the two dragons that had long destroyed their ranks. Cynder was bleeding badly from a wound on her neck and was slipping in and out of consciousness. Spyro's wing had being torn and was bleeding, but not to badly. As the two dragons were dragged ever deeper into the city the mood of their captors changed, realising that they had caught the dragons and that there wasn't anyone around to stop them cheered them up significantly. From the rooftops a dark hooded figure was darting quickly towards the group.

From the inside of the city the damage didn't look as bad, the pillars of smoke seen from outside the city were hidden from view by the tall buildings lining the roads and many of the inner buildings were in good condition. But the city had an empty felling that couldn't be shrugged off.

Looking across at Cynder, Spyro realised that she would need attention. The wound on her neck had opened up and now, instead of the trail of blood droplets there was a trail of blood. When they turned the next corner, they were confronted with a huge blaze, both sides of the street were burning, and in the middle was a huge piece of rock. The grublins stoped. But the orks continued to drag them closer to the raging inferno. A sudden realisation occurred to Spyro, and he started to struggle. He didn't want to be burned alive! The ork stopped, and held Spyro down. "Throw da black un in first. I'm gonna need your help wit dis un" Said the ork holding Spyro. The one dragging Cynder started to laugh, as he raised Cynder above his head ready to throw her in. A deafening mechanical 'Crack' suddenly echoed through the burning street. Looking up, Spyro saw the ork holding Cynder fall backwards, Cynder fell back with him. The other ork looked up to and cried out in pain at seeing its friend dead. It looked down at Spyro, its eyes full of hatred. A second deafening 'Crack' and the remaining ork's head exploded. Spyro grunted in pain as the orks body fell on top of him and he lost consciousness.

A dark figure jumped from the roof top, landing next to Spyro. Not even taking a second look at the unconsciousness purple dragon, it went straight to Cynder, lifting her up onto its shoulder. The dark figured moved back to Spyro and dragging him out from under the ork and around the corner, out of the way of the fire. Cutting the ropes binding the purple dragon's paws together before sprinting back to its hiding spot, knowing that it didn't have much time to save the black dragon.

Spyro woke several hours later, he wasn't aware of the small puddle of blood that had form around his wing. When he did open his eyes and saw the small puddle of blood, he didn't know what it was. After a few minutes of pondering about the pool of red he noticed that he couldn't move his wings, and then it all slowly started to come back. And, like a note been struck, he remembered Cynder. He leapt out of his drowsiness and bolted out the door the chains binding his wings to his body still clung tight around his chest. He came to a street and he saw a trail of blood leading around the corner. He ran towards it. It lead to the fire, having died out during the night, all that was left was blackened shells of buildings. Not even taking a second look at the side of the street he ran towards were he saw Cynder last. Rubble from the buildings littered the street, some of which was covering the spot were Cynder had been. Spyro desperately clawed at the rumble, the chain around his wings hindered his movements greatly, but he got down to the blackened pavement. And she wasn't there. Spyro panicked. Trying to convince himself that Cynder was okay, and look for a sign of were she had gone took him several minutes. He fell to the ground and covered his eyes with his paws, and started crying.

The tears continued for nearly an hour, before a dark shape moved from atop the roof near Spyro. It landed close to Spyro so that he could hear the soft thud. Spyro looked up at the dark figure through his teary eyes. Not needed any further convincing that this was the dragon that Cynder wanted, the figure moved towards the crying purple dragon called Spyro. Kneeling down a few meters from the dragon the figure waited, waited until the sniffles of the small dragon stopped, before relaying the message, "Spyro. If you want to see your love then follow me" the distinctly female voice had a slight accent that Spyro had never heard before, but he didn't notice in the slightest. He was up and ready to go in the flash of an eye. The figure raised her eyebrows. But got up and started sprinting back towards the location she had hid the black dragoness.

Struggling to keep up with the dark figure Spyro panted heavily. He had managed to get the chain off, freeing his wings but they were pretty torn so he ran instead. He caught up to the figure again before she sprinted off around a corner. Bolting around the corner Spyro saw the main temple of the city, and the figure sprinting up the steps, three at a time. By the time he had reached the top he had lost her again. The main doors to the temple stood ajar, so Spyro walked in. From the corner of his eyes he saw the figure dart around the far corner. He sprinted across the temple, and swung around the corner. He stopped at the entrance to a corridor. He could feel a slight breeze coming through the corridor and on the wind was Cynder's scent. Spyro sprinted down the corridor, his nose leading him through it. He finally stopped at the second last door, he moved to open the door. It was locked, he tried to see what element was needed to open the door but in the darkness he could see anything.

Foot steps from the end of the corridor made Spyro look up from his huddled position. It was the female that he was following. When she was half way down the corridor a strange red light suddenly appeared from her hand, blinding Spyro. Spyro closed his eyes trying to protect them from the light. It was getting closer soon it was right above him. A small 'click' and then the door Spyro was resting on opened. He tumbled into the dully lit room. The red light suddenly went out, leaving the room pitch black. A smaller light ignited in the middle of the room, it slowly got brighter until the room was pleasantly lit. Opening his eyes Spyro could make out the outline of the dark figure in the middle of the room blowing out a small flame. She looked at Spyro, before moving to the far side were, on a small bed, a black dragoness lay in rest.


	3. Chapter 3

Surrounded, Jade had no choice but to surrender. In the darkness he hadn't seen the figures coming. He could make out the outline of three, each had their bow drawn, not as lethal as his Usp.45 but, at this range, lethal none the less. One of them stood forward, "Pass me your weapon. And we shall escort you to the village." Grimacing at the idea he slowly un-holstered his pistol and threw it to the ground in front of one that had spoken, hoping it would go off and shoot it's foot. The figure bent down and picked it up, examining it for a second before looking back across the valley. "Come. We don't have much time." The three shadows started moving away from the plane, not knowing what else to do, Jade followed.

After a few minutes of running they reached the village. The high wooden walls of the village gave way to several clusters of low wooden buildings. Jade was escorted to a building in the far corner, unlike the others this one had four walls. When they reached the building, all of the creatures stopped, two moved to the sides, and the one that had Jade's pistol turned around to wait for him. "I am sorry about taking your weapon, but Chief Prowlus doesn't talk to armed… outsiders." 'Great' thought Jade 'I'm an outsider… again.'

"Why would I be talking to Chief…?"

"Prowlus. And because we share a common enemy."

Turning around and walking through the door into the hut the figure disappeared. 'I always was good at first impressions wasn't I' thought Jade. Looking around at the village he started to wonder wether to go in, or wait to be called in. As it was, the decision was made for him and he quickly ducked through the door into the small hut.

From inside the hut Chief Prowlus stifled a gasp, as the furless clothed creature walked in. "I can't see in this light. Could you make it brighter?" 'Not a very good way to make first impression to the leader, but what the hell. Why not?' thought Jade. The one that had Jade's pistol looked at the Chief. A nod was the answer and the one that took his gun moved to the centre of the room and lit a small fire. The hut flickered with dull light from the flame now burning in its centre.

Jade's first thought was 'that they were wearing cat masks'. His second was 'that they were good quality masks'. His third was 'Holy shit! They're not masks' and his fourth was 'oh my god. What have I got myself into?' He stood their blinking stupidly at the half man half cheetah sitting in front of him for a full minute before the chief spoke. "So, you have never seen our kind before. Have you?" Jade responded by shaking his head, as even single words were beyond him. 'Hmm. So, what brings you to the Valley of the Avlator…?" Jade's mind slowly kicked into gear. "Ah… Jade" A clearly fake smile crossed chief's face, "Ah. So, Jade. What brings you to our valley?" Jade was still clearly freaked out and could barely speak in one word sentences. 'Ah... Lost"

It had being several hours since the meeting with Chief Prowlus, since then Jade had slowly regained his senses. Well, to an extent. He had convinced himself he was unconscious and that this was all a dream… Still he had bathed his wounds, and convinced Chief Prowlus to let him go back to the crashed plane, only he had to go with the three that had found him there for protection. But Jade knew it was to stop him from running off.

Jade also learnt the names of the three that had found him, the two that stood guard during his conversation with Chief Prowlus were Hateech and Neelo they were both a light teal colour with a white chest, and the one that took his pistol (and still wouldn't give it back) was a red cheetah named Meadow.

Crossing the river on a small raft, they reached the other side. A huge black scar marked the plane's passage, remanets of the left wing were strewn about the ground. But Jade only had eyes for the fuselage of the plane. He quickly traversed the ground between him and the plane, and started trying to open the main cargo door. It had crumpled in during the crash, so it took a few minutes of sweating and foul language before it opened. Jade quickly ran through the cargo checklist in his mind. The bio fuel plant was loaded on last so it would be closest to the door. It wasn't explosive so he roughed it out of the plane. It was very heavy and in the end he got help from the others but it was worth it, the large area it had taken up was now open, and there was plenty of space to move the rest of the lighter cargo around. Running back through the mental checklist, the Bushmaster's were packed after this. Moving to the nearest box, and bingo! 'Bushmaster ACR Assault Rifles. Handle with care'

It wasn't much. But Jade manage to salvage one of the Bushmaster Assault rifles with eighteen magazines, a gun cleaning kit, the backpack Jade had taken on the plane with his wallet, water bottle, sketch book, mobile phone, and the rounds for his pistol. He also got six of the nitrogen charged grenades, an in-the-field first aid kit and a heavy black flashlight. Not much, but it was enough to weigh him down a hell of a lot. Looking at the small pile he remembered the box that he had found. Going back and looking through the cargo he found the box. He pulled out his pocket knife he started to pry open the lid. The box was full of packing foam, cautiously Jade put his free hand into the foam. Quickly he found the contents, it was a small glossy black box, about the size of a briefcase, with a small LED screen. The small screen was flashing 'Overheated', pulling the box fully out of the rest of the foam he accidently knocked against the side. And the screen stopped flashing. He added the box to the pile, 'I'll take a closer look later' he thought.

Jade cleaned the assault rifle with one of the other cleaning kits (so not to waste the oil on the one he took). It was a jet black, and despite been in a protective case during the crash, it had suffered a few scratches along its barrel and stock. But still, it had come out the best from the crash. Having finished oiling the barrel his put it back into place, loaded a magazine in and drew the bolt back, loading the gun. Jade grimaced at there not been any kind of scope he could attach to the gun. 'Well, iron sights or not, it's a gun.'

"Prefect. Okay guys, we can head back now." Jade turned around to see the three cheetahs drawing their bows. Getting the message Jade picked up the gun and flicked the safety off.

Slowly the creature came into view. It was one of the Grublins, having learnt that from Chief Prowlus. Raising the gun up to his shoulder Jade looked down the sights, he flicked the fire rate to single shot and fired a shot into the grublin. Simply put, it exploded. The large round ripped the grublin apart, in an explosion of blood and bone, then entering the soft ground behind it. "Let's get back to the village before more come." The fear in Meadow's voice was apparent, and slowly the four of them edged back towards the raft. Jade was at the end watching for more enemies, Meadow in front followed closely by Neelo and Hateech. When they got to the raft, four more grublins came over the hill, four quick shots and they were history. Jumping onto the raft Neelo and Hateech started paddling. By the time they got back to the village, a crowd had gathered. The shot could be heard from a while off, despite being reasonable quiet. In front of the crowd was Chief Prowlus, his face was rather grave and at the sight of the four of them it returned to its normal seriousness.

At the gate they were separated. Neelo and Hateech went off to do their sentry duty, and Jade went with Meadow to his home. It was a low timber hut, and like the others in the village it had open walls on three sides, but Jade didn't complain. As he entered he threw his back pack down in the corner, and covered his gun. Meadow passed him a loaf of bread, mumbling a thanks, he wolfed it down. When he realized he was being watched by Meadow, he nearly hit himself. Desperate to make up for his rudeness Jade asked "Meadow. I'm sure this is a silly question, but how old are you?" Jade could see the immediate response of a smile crossing Meadow's face. "No. It's not a silly question," Replied Meadow, trying to contain his laugh, "and, if you must know. I am twenty-nine. What about you?" smiling at the fact he was making small talk with a cat, Jade replied. "Twenty-six." Jade paused for a moment before asking, "Are you the only tribe, or are there other villages out there?"

They continued this conversation for most of the night, asking each other about their lives, until it became apparent that they, and the sentries, were the only ones awake. "Well. It looks like it might be time to sleep." Yawned Meadow, replying with a yawn of his own Jade agreed. "Don't let the bed bugs bite." Smiling at the idea Jade prepared to wake from this dream and go back to living in his world, and to get a coping from his boss for crashing the plane and damaging the top secret cargo. 'All well,' he thought 'it was fun while it lasted…'

The cool breeze came through the hut's open wall. Meadow turned over to escape the chilling breeze and came face to face with Jade. Startled, Meadow pulled back. Jade moved restlessly in his sleep but didn't wake. Meadow, inspected Jade's face closely, have never seen had a chance to see it this close before. The flat face was a tanned pinkish colour, dark stubble had started to form on his chin and his brown hair was draping over face, 'Human?' thought Meadow, 'Who names some thing human? I would call them something like… flat face'. Noticing that Jade's eyes were darting around under his eyelids, Meadow decided to get up. Carefully he stood up, and walked down out of the hut. Catching a glimpse of the sentries near the gates, he walked over to them, 'a conversation is a conversation.'

Jade's scanned the empty warehouse, it was bare, except for the figure in front of him. Slowly he edged away from the ghostly figure standing in front of him. "Why do you hide from me?" asked the figure, the female voice echoing in the empty warehouse. Freezing in his position, Jade stood there. Caught in the open, while the figure moved towards him. "Why do you hide from your past? You can't undo what you did to me? So go on. Stand up. Look me in the eyes, I can't hurt you. I'm dead!" Closing his eyes Jade willed himself to wake. "You killed me! I'm dead now! You said you would protect me!" A single tear rolled down from Jade's clenched eyes. Trying to shut out the voice, Jade cringed. Opening his eyes he slowly looked up. The figure's face was covered in darkness. "That's better. Now look me in the eyes…" Knowing what was next, Jade looked at the face. A glimpse of it and he woke, sweating and panting heavily.

Grimacing at the nightmare, he got up. 'When was the last time I had that dream?' Noticing Meadow was gone he decided to go and find him. As he left the hut the first thing he noticed was that a frost had settled over the ground 'Lucky I left my shoes on….' Looking up and down the street he realised it was only dawn. Looking back to the comfort of the hut Jade started having doubt on wether to find Meadow. 'Well, I wont be able to get any more sleep, so why not?' He walked towards the gate, 'Maybe the sentries have seen him…' Flicking back to the nightmare he started to shiver. Trying to put his mind off the dream, he remembered the box he had found. Deciding it would be better to examine the box now, then finding Meadow, he went back to the hut. Not that he had gone that far anyway. Moving over to the corner were he had thrown his backpack he started searching for the box he had found.

Finally he pulled it out, the small screen lighting up on his touch. 'Ready' Looking at the box didn't help Jade work out what it was, "Ready? Ready for what?" Jade asked himself rather loudly. Inspecting the box closer he found a small charge point, and a slide that opened up to a ten by seven centimetre touch screen. The screen was showing a low battery warning, and a 'ready' symbol. Jade heard a shout, but hew thought nothing of it. He cautiously tapped the battery symbol and the screen switched to a detailed visual display off four bars with a percentage at the bottom of each. Three showed up at zero, and one at twenty-nine percent. In the bottom corner a 'total charge' symbol was flashing. Jade touched this and the power bars switched to a single bar showing up at full charged. Underneath this were two more symbols: 'Initiate displacement' and 'Receive charge'. Puzzled at the small box Jade moved to press 'Initiate displacement', but more yelling from outside the hut caught his attention. "There's something coming at us from the air!" "Move to defend the gate!" Just at that moment Meadow came into view, his face was twisted with fear. Already Jade had put the box down next to his stuff and was now pulling out his assault rifle from behind his bag.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry about the short chapter... i had a just couldn't find a way to add more to this with out ruining the mood...

sorry...

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Spyro watched the female move towards Cynder, Spyro went to follow but the female gave a stern look that stopped Spyro in his tracks. "Wait. I need to give her some medicine." Spyro paused, unsure wether to go or wait. 'Well, she has helped me so far… I guess I can trust her…' still unsure, Spyro slumped onto his haunches, waiting for her to make her move. She eyed off Spyro before she slowly moved to the sleeping dragoness, pulling out a bottle of liquid from her pack. She crouched down next to Cynder's head and moved the bottle to her mouth. At first Spyro thought she was wouldn't drink, but her eyes fluttered and she started to slowly drain the contents of the bottle. When the bottle was empty, the female moved away and signalled that Spyro could come in.

Spyro leapt to his feet and moved towards Cynder, keeping an eye on the female until he was close enough to Cynder to hear her soft breaths. Cynder kept her eyes closed, even when she knew that Spyro was next to her. "Spyro, please… don't go anywhere…" Smiling at the black dragoness Spyro replied, "Silly little dragon. I'm not going anywhere." Slowly he got up onto the bed and lay himself down next to her. The female looked up at him and watched him carefully as he lay down next to Cynder.

Cynder's eyes flashed opened at his contact. Opening to the sight of Spyro's dazzling amethyst eyes. He noticed it and smiled at her, staring into her equally beautiful turquoise eyes. She looked back startled, before blushing. Spyro smiled back and nuzzled her cheek. This only made Cynder's blush more, but she did enjoy it, showing it by purring softly. Slowly she closed her eyes as she felt a wave of relief wash over her. Spyro noticed she was starting to sleep and gave one last kiss before turning to face the female he had followed.

Looking up at the female creature who was now sitting up against the far wall biting into a piece of fruit. Spyro looked at her features more closely; she had a light brown skin with brown shoulder length hair. On most of her body she wore light brown cloth, similar to what Hunter always wore only that hers was in two pieces and despite its obvious ware, was of a quality that Spyro had never seen before. On her side of her waist she wore a black holster with a piece of silver metal protruding out its top, next to that there was three identical smaller black holsters along her waist.

Her appearance puzzled Spyro greatly, 'She is clearly not from around here… Hmm… I wonder… Maybe… Maybe she comes from lands afar…' The thought of lands far away sparked up Spyro's curiosity, and he decided he wanted some answers. "Where do you come from? And who are you?" Looking up from her apple the female looked at Spyro, locking her brilliant greens eyes with his. But waited until she had finished chewing the piece of apple before replying, "I come from lands of which you have not heard, and… My name is not important." Spyro was slightly surprised at her reply but wasn't going to give up that easily, "How can I trust someone who won't even tell me their name?" Smiling at herself she replied rather bluntly "Well… You don't." Taken back, Spyro looked for another way to get a name out of her. Thankfully, she gave him a break. "But... Seeing as you're so interested and, that we shall be here together for a while, you can call me, Kate…"

Spyro pondered at the name, it sounded rather strange to him. "Why did you save us?" he asked, looking at Kate as she took another bite from the apple. Again she waited until she had finished chewing the mouth full of apple before answering, "Because, I've seen to much death already." The sorrow in her voice was slightly lost in her accent, but Spyro noticed it. And decided to leave it for now.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Kate moved towards the centre of the room and dulled the light. Sensing that the conversation was over, Spyro looked back at Cynder's peaceful face, and realized just how tired he was from chasing _Kate_. He edged closer to Cynder and whispered "I love you." before slowly closing his eyelids, and dipping into a peaceful slumber.

Kate looked down at her feet, having heard Spyro's whisper, and remembered the last time she saw her love. Wincing at the memory she stared off into space. Then, silently, she got up and went out the door. She moved through the abandoned temple without making a sound. The main doors off the temple were ajar, letting in the dull morning light. Kate moved out side, sat down on the first step, and stared at the two moons as they slowly faded in the morning sun. "One day… I'll back for you… and I'll explain everything… I'm… I'm sorry…" Kate dipped her head in shame as she remembered the terms she had left in. "One day… I promise…"

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well i've already said i'm sorry about the short chapter, but i promise i'll make it up in the next two...


	5. Chapter 5

**OMG! I finally finished this damned chapter!**

**For those that actually are reading this *silence* I'm REALLY sorry about the REALLY late update, I would go on with some pathetic excuse on why I took so long... but I kinda forgot what it was...**

**Anyway, hope you like this chap, I will try to get the next chap up as soon a possible, but as shown with this one, that could be AGES...**

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Jade got to the gate at the same time a Chief Prowlus. Nodding in recognition Chief Prowlus moved to the two sentries that had sounded the alarm. Jade slung his gun over his shoulder and started to climb to the top of the wooden wall. When he reached the top he glanced at the skies, before swinging himself onto a horizontal support for the wall. Swiftly he un-slung his gun and started scanning the skies, pausing on a small speck on the other side of the valley that was slowly moving towards them. Jade was again convinced that he was dreaming as he looked down at Chief Prowlus who, by the look of it, didn't appreciate him climbing his walls, "Ah… Do I shoot dragons coming towards us," pausing, he thought about how stupid this sounded, "or do I celebrate its arrival?"

The black dragon was panting heavily as it landed in the village centre. From the sidelines Jade watched as it greeted Chief Prowlus through heavy breaths. The dragon's head was about two meters [6.6 feet] off the ground but it's back was only a meter twenty [3.9 feet] from the ground, only at Jade elbows. It occurred to Jade that if it were on its hind legs, then it would be twice the size of him... It was pitch black except for its wing membranes and underbelly which were a dull shade of gold with a slight red tinge, its horns, tail blade and talons were a light, but still dull grey. The cheetahs all clearly excited by its presence, but the look on it's face was a dead giveaway to Jade that something else was happening. Chief Prowlus suddenly glanced in his direction, the dragon slanted it's head and turned in Jade's direction. It stared at him for a moment before turning back to Chief Prowlus.

Chief Prowlus talked to the dragon exactly for a moment before his face became grave as the dragon dropped the bomb. It took Chief Prowlus a moment to get back to his thoughts, when he did he madly gestured for Jade, Meadow and a few other cheetahs that Jade hadn't seen before to come to him. Slowly Jade edged towards the small group. Meadow and the other cheetahs had already reached the group by the time he got there. Jade moved around the dragon to stand beside Meadow who glanced at him before turning around to face the dragon.

When the last cheetah joined Chief Prowlus, the black dragon spoke. "I come baring bad news. The dragons and moles heading back to Warfang… have been attacked…" Jade raised his eyebrows, _'An Australian accent...?'_ his thoughts were interrupted by the gasps of the cheetahs around him, _'oh right… not the time, I should be worried about the other dragons… being attacked by grublins?'_ again Jade's thoughts were interrupted, as Chief Prowlus quickly silenced the group and turned to face the dragon, "Where are they? And how many are they up against?" The dragon looked sheepishly at its feet before continuing. "Well… we're not actually sure. Their all stuck at the fourth gate in the forbidden passage, the gate was damaged during the… last battle, and couldn't be opened from our side. The only passage we could find through to the other side was so small that only a few could get through." The dragon paused for a nervous breath, "But they were attacked... before we could do anything…" the dragon looked down at its paws, and Jade noticed that what could only have been tears swelling up in his eyes. The dragon did a good job of covering the tears up, and keeping them out of his voice. Jade couldn't help but admire it for that. But at the same time, wonder why it would be crying... Chief Prowlus took in a large breath as he thought of what to say. "What can we do to help?"

It had been about an hour since the black dragon had arrived. Through word of mouth it was said that the dragon was a runner bringing bad news from the dragons heading back towards Warfang. This sent many of the cheetahs into a near panic, and only through Chief Prowlus's ability to keep control over the cheetahs that a small string of sanity was held in the town. All of the cheetahs were on edge. It didn't help when Chief Prowlus took an hour talking to the dragon in private, or the not so quiet argument they were having in his hut. And it was practically the last straw when he called a meeting of ALL the cheetahs, including a hermit that lived out of town. So there Jade sat, Meadow to his right involved in a deep conversation about what was happening with two other cheetahs. Although Jade could barely hear what they were saying over the noise from all the other cheetahs, he heard enough to know that they were afraid.

As Chief Prowlus moved or well really stomped, to talk to the assembled cheetahs, all of the heads slowly turned to face him. The black dragon followed behind him at a distance clearly it had lost the argument... Chief Prowlus's voice boomed over the cheetahs, "As many of you already know, the dragons and moles heading back towards Warfang, have been attacked, and require assistance. After talking it over with Shade we have decided to send seven to help the dragons push through to Warfang." A silence sat over the gathered cheetahs before they erupted into shouts.

"Seven?! What would that do?" Shouted someone next to Jade, nearly breaking his eardrum in the process. "If the dragons cannot defeat these monsters, then what would the good of sending our warriors out to there aid be?" Screamed someone at the frond before being drowned out by all the other voices. Jade smiled at the similarity between this and humans going into the un-known… Chief Prowlus bellowed over the noise, "SILENCE!!" The crowd instantly fell silent and after a brief pause, Chief Prowlus continued. "I want seven volunteers. I don't care who, but there has too be a healer and warriors among them…" after a moment of silence, someone spoke. Meadow called over from the back, "I'll go."

Every head slowly turned to Meadow, "I'll go." He repeated. Shade was the first to react with any sense behind the action. "Then come up the front." As he slowly moved towards Chief Prowlus and Shade, every head followed, all looking completely shocked. Jade sat back stifling a laugh at the sight. When he got to the front, Jade spoke up, "I'll come to." And slowly the head turned to face him.

As Jade edged towards the group more voices spoke up, and by the time Jade got there, three other cheetahs had joined Meadow. When Jade took up a place beside Meadow, he suddenly thought of an entire city of dragons trapped in a tunnel. _'Great, I always loved crowds…'_

Seven cheetahs agreed to go help the dragons and moles, three healers and four warriors. A small party, but Chief Prowlus didn't like the idea of sending to many cheetahs away from the village. Either way, at just past midday, nine figures left the village. Seven cheetahs, a human and a black dragon that seemed so out of the picture as it soared above the group.

They followed the river to a log that served as a makeshift bridge across a large stream. Jade stared into the forest to their left, it was dense forest and he could only see a few meters into it. The group slowed down as they turned off the river and headed into the forest. They followed an open path the trees on ether side of the path reached over the top of the path, creating a roof that filtered down beams of light. The black dragon landed lightly behind Jade, grunting in recognition, they continued on.

The group continued deeper into the forest in silence. Moss covered boulders littered the floor of the path, and the thick grass was still damp here. The path split at the base of a small cliff, with out a second glance Meadow took the left path and everyone followed. Jade paused at the crossing and had a glance down the right path. Shade didn't notice Jade stopping and walking into him. They both stumbled slightly but didn't fall. "Watch were your going pip squeak." And with that it pushed its way past Jade to catch up with the others. Jade raised his eyebrows at the dragons hostilities but continued on.

After clearing a three metre cliff, which everyone but Jade scaled quickly and effortlessly, they continued down to a clearing with a drop off to the river on their right, and a towering cliff to the left. At a bend in the path they went left and towards the mouth of a gaping cave. Jade was startled by the huge hole in the solid rock, it was easily three metres high and four wide. He didn't have long to be intrigued by the cave, as quickly the cheetahs went into the dark mouth. Disappearing into it's mouth. The dragon paused before entering, "You coming?" it didn't wait for a reply, as it slipped into the dim. Jade reached for his pistol and its barrel mounted flashlight. But it was of course still with Meadow. _'I got to get that off of him before I REALLY need it...'_ with out his pistol to rely on, he simple took a leap of faith and walked into the pitch blackness of the cave.

As soon as Jade entered he was overwhelmed by the complete lack of warmth in the tunnel. _'Thank god I wore pants...'_ he took another step and stubbed his toe on a rock. He half yelled half muffled, "Son of a..." before Meadow 'Shushed him'. Jade mutter another curse under his breath before stepping back into the light and rummaging through his pack, in the darkness Meadow let out a sigh as Jade left the cave. He took a quick glance at the others as the slowly moved down the cave in the darkness. After apparently finding what he was looking for Jade stepped back into the cave. Meadow was in the process of telling him to be careful when a beam of light erupted from the torch in Jade's hand. Meadow blinked stupidly at the bright light as Jade smiled ear to ear. "Now, I can actually see."

Meadow quickly recovered from the light and rolled his eyes. "Hurry up, every one else is already ahead." With that he went to leave but found Jade had already past him, _'How'd he do that?' _Meadow froze on the spot for a second as Jade turned around, already several metres ahead. "Come on Meadow, we don't have all day!" Meadow recovered and quickly caught up with Jade. Jade was still grinning when Meadow caught up; "So, how far until we get there?"

It took most of the day to get to the dragons. But they heard them long before they saw them. Shade was clearly eager to get back to his own kind, "Quickly! We're nearly there!" The cheetahs were all tired, and only Shade and Jade looked ready to keep going. After passing through yet another stone gate the group spotted lights in the distance. "Come on! They're over there!" Shouted Shade, the cheetahs looked up at the distance they had to cover and gave out a few complaints before moving off again. Shade was leading the group now, flying head and waiting for the rest to catch up before dashing ahead again. _'Damn he's getting annoying...'_ Jade thought for what felt like the thousandth time. As they got closer to the lights they started to see the movements of the many of dragons grouped at the apparently blocked off gateway.

After just under half an hour they arrived at the group. All of the dragons turned to face them as they arrived, whispers ran through the group as they saw Shade and his group of seven cheetahs and a creature they had never seen before. The crowd of dragons parted allowing for them to move to the blocked off gateway and three dragons that still hadn't noticed their arrival. All three of the dragons were about the same height of four metres [13.1 feet] but each was a completely different in both colour and physic. One was a brilliant electric yellow with a deep blue chest and horns that curved up at the end creating a hook. Ragged blue spines ran the length of its back and its wings were the same yellow as its body but the bones were blue and shaped vaguely like lightening blots. Jade felt a chill run down his spine as he saw the deadly looking twin bladed tail blade.

The second was an azure blue with indigo wing membranes and chest scales and it had baby blue spines running along its back. Its head was thinner then the other two dragons, and had indigo and baby blue crest starting from the base of the jaw behind the eyes. It was the thinnest of the three and had four spikes on the end of its tail. The third was a broad shouldered, medium green dragon with an orange chest and wings. It had thick beige horns on coming out the back of its head that curved down, it had irregular beige spines running along its back and a spiked club on the end of its tail.

As they got closer they three dragons noticed them and turned to face them. When they were just a few metres away the group stopped as Shade dipped his head in respect. The dragons looked between Shade and the seven exhausted cheetahs, they gaze all fell on Jade at the same time. And they continued to stare at him until Shade spoke, "Chief Prowlus would only allow seven to leave, no matter how hard I tried to convince him..." the dragons shook their heads in disappointment. The green dragon looked across to the other two and spoke in a deep military like voice: "I told you one of us should have gone." The yellow dragon replied I a voice that Jade could barely follow; "Yes, yes. Your quite right, but we had to stay and try to get through. In case they didn't get here in time or we found a way through." The green dragon let out a grunt before speaking, "If they're not to late already..." The blue dragon took the opportunity to speak in its heavy English accent; "Come now, they're here. So lets see what they can do to help the young ones."

For the next few minutes the yellow dragon explained what had happened in more detail, Jade listened intently as the yellow dragon rambled at a lightening pace about six earth dragons going to find a way to knock a hole in the gateway. When it finished speaking there was a lot of confused faces as the cheetahs took a moment to finish interpreting what it had said. Meadow was the first to speak, even though it was a minute after the dragon finished speaking; "So... what can we do to help?" The three dragons looked between each other before the blue dragon addressed Meadow. "We're not actually sure..."

There was a silence for a while as the group took in what was said. _'At least they're honest...' _thought Jade. A sudden thud from the behind the group caused every head to snap around. The three dragons turned around and lowered themselves into attack positions, getting the idea the cheetah warriors drew their bows while Jade unslung his rifle and flicked the safety off.

Another, louder, thud boomed against the gateway causing dust to fall from higher crevices. A third thud and a crack appeared in the gateway, filtering dim light from the other side. With the forth, a small hole was created about the size of a person. There was complete silence for a moment before four deep green dragons dashed out through the hole, Jade quickly lowered his rifle and the cheetahs undrew their bows. The dragons however remained in their attack positions. Jade took a good look at four the dragons, all were green but only one was completely green, the other three had reddish orange chests and wings. The largest was barely up to Jade's elbows, but the other three were easily up to, and maybe even past his knees. The three dragons stopped dead in their tracks as they saw the three elders in attack positions. They froze for a second until a noise behind them got them running again. They ran straight past the three dragons who didn't even blink an eye at the passing, they all kept their eyes fixed on the hole. It took Jade a moment to realise why they were so intently staring at the hole. _'The was six dragons that went through... Oh crap.'_

Nobody moved for nearly a minute as the murmurs of relieved parents cut into the silence. When Jade heard the first cry of a dragon he slowly started to approach the mouth of the hole. By unspoken words, all the cheetahs and the three dragon elders moved with him. In the six steps it took Jade to get to the hole the group became aware of a barely auditable whimper coming from the other side. When Jade reached the hole he had a good look at the rough finish of the walls before he was pushed out of the way by Shade. _'He is really getting on my nerves...'_

The dragons looked amongst themselves before turning to the cheetahs. The yellow elder spoke first in an attempt at a whisper; "We can't fit through there, one of you must go, we can't risk another one of the younglings..." it continued to ramble on as the cheetahs exchanged nervous glances. When it finished the cheetahs started to whisper in outrage, "We can't go through! If the dragons got... what chance do we have?" Jade turned his noise at their cowardliness. _'Come on Jade! You need a way to safe the dragons! Even if they are complete strangers, and the only dragon you actually KNOW hates you...'_

A sinister grin crossed Jade's face as he slowly turned to face Meadow, who was still staring into the hole. "Meadow. Do you have the weapon you took from me before?" Meadow looked up at Jade, rather confused at his request. "Umm... yes. Why?" Jade's grin twitched slightly larger before disappearing, "Can I have it back now?" Meadow stared blankly at Jade for a second before fumbling through his pockets looking for the weapon he took. When he looked back up at Jade, his pack was already off and he was in the process of putting down his rifle. Meadow was about to say something when Jade snatched the pistol from his hands and dashed through the hole, it all went so quick that none of the dragons had time to stop him. _'I used eight shots before, so I have four left. Not much to go on, but...'_

As soon as Jade got to the other side of the gate he noticed the difference. Beams of light filtered down from the roof but still couldn't light up the whole tunnel, huge boulders littered the ground with small piles of rumble clustered around their bases. Jade took a second to take in the scene, the last thing he noticed was small puddles of semi dried blood on the ground before the ground started to shake.

Jade quickly dashed towards the cover of the nearest boulder. He got to the boulder just as the first ork burst from the ground. Jade scowled at the size of the enemy but raised his pistol and took a shot at the ork. The shot was good, and slammed into the side of the orks head, the metallic crack echoed continuously in the endless tunnel. Half of the ork's head was blow off by the shot and it collapsed onto the ground. Jade lowered his pistol as he continued to watch the twitching corpse. Without warning the corpse froze up and exploded in a shower of red and green crystals. Jade's first reaction was to bring his pistol back up, but the crystals simply fell back to the ground and lit up the ground with colour. _'Ok. Monstersthat explode into green and red gems... what next?' _thought Jade as he lowered his pistol.

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***gasp***

**What happens next? When will I update next? All will be revealed in the next chap (I hope) **

**{PS. If Shade's character (**_**The Meaningless **_**[my mentor kinda person]) hates the way I made him out to be... well, yeah, just send some hate mail and ill fix it later**

**XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well this chapter may have been overdue (not as much as my last but still took longer to finish then I thought it would) but it is MUCH longer then the previous chapters (4,623 words)**

**I was hoping to get to 5,000 but I can't be stuffed right now so I'm giving what I have. Normally I would have re-read through the chapter to fix any of my bad grammar but as state before, 'I cant be stuffed'**

**Hope you enjoy and please, review. **

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Jade didn't have long to ponder at the new enemy, already two more had come to replace the one before them. These two were slightly larger then the one before, but still fell to Jade's pistol in quick succession. Jade watched as again the orcs exploded in a shower of green and red crystals. A red crystal was thrown up to Jade feet and curiosity got the better of him. So he picked it up.

He had quick look at the glowing crystal before pocketing it. _'More important things to be doing right now.' _He had a final look around the area he could see before dropping the magazine and slamming in a fresh one into the pistol. With his now full pistol he leapt down from his hiding spot, landing heavily on the rocks below. Luckily he didn't sprain his ankle, so with a few murmured curses he continued over to the patches of dried blood.

In the dim light he could see foot prints and a trail blood leading of into the darkness, so with one final look behind him, Jade switched on his pistol's flashlight and moved into the darkness. The small barrel mounted flashlight cut into the darkness easily, revealing the bloody footprints and claw marks on the ground. Jade didn't take a second to think about what he was doing as he followed the bloody trail. A normal person would have been scared shitless or at least having second thoughts.

But not Jade, he just silently trailed the footprints, every sense straining to know the location of enemy before they did. Not a thought crossed his mind as he heard low voices up ahead, instinctively he flicked off the light. He froze in the pitch blackness listening until his eyes adjusted to the light. He didn't need to think about what to do, his mind was working overtime trying to work out the distance between here and the mouth of the tunnel, the probability of the dragons both been alive, the chances of getting them both out alive and so many other smaller details on how he was going to get out alive. He subconsciously tiptoed up to the corner and crouched down, his plan was nearly finished at this point. _'Shoot the bad guys, free the dragons, herd them back to tunnel, and then avoid any lectures or applause. Simple? I wish.'_

The voices were louder now, but still Jade couldn't make out what they were saying. He held his breath for a moment trying to hear what they are saying, it was apparent he still couldn't so he let out the breath. He scowled at himself before taking a quick glance around the corner. In the few seconds he had his head around the corner his face had turned ghost white. _'Oh crap... this just got _whole _lot more complicated...' _Jade took a deep breath before pivoting back around the corner, bringing is pistol up in front of him in the process.

A small cavern lit by an even smaller fire confronted him. Two green dragons, nether longer then a metre, were suspended upside down by thick ropes, thick blood dripping down from the fresh wounds on their chests and puddling up underneath them. The larger of the two had several deeps cuts on its forearms, a deep cut on its chest and a nasty gash on its head, it wasn't moving apart from the laboured breaths it took at uneven intervals. The smaller one was struggling on the ropes, as its tears mixed with its own blood as they dripped off the end of its snout. Apart from a single deep cut on its chest it was free of injuries. Jade could barely see the green of their scales through the thick blood and could only see red on their chests.

Eleven orcs sat crowded around the small fire, they were all silent and for a second Jade wondered wether they had heard him. The cavern was completely silent apart from the muffled crying of the smaller dragon and the heavy breathing of the orcs. _'If they do know I'm here, then they're gonna regret not acting soon...'_ Jade tightened his grip on his pistol before the metallic crack burst from his pistol. The shot hit the closest orc on the side of its head, it's body hadn't even hit the ground before another two orcs fell to Jade. The remaining orcs all jumped up and spun to face Jade. Another two shoots and two more fell by the time they had even realized where Jade was. The remaining six made a mad dash to try and get Jade, five of them fell well before they got near the corner. The last, got within a metre of Jade before the final shot echoed through the cavern, followed closely by the thud of the orc hitting the ground.

Jade stayed crouched for nearly a minute, all of the orcs bodies had exploded, leaving the green and red crystals to dimly light the room. The smaller dragon murmured cries had turned in wails for help. Jade's eyes continued to scan the dull cavern until he was certain there was no more orcs. He slowly rose to his feet and walked along edge of the cavern until he reached the dragons. The larger one twitched as he got closer and the smaller dragon froze, settling an eerie silence on the cavern. Jade managed to suppress his disgust at the deep gashes on the two dragon's chests. _'How the hell are they still alive?' _

Jade holstered his pistol, the soft sound of the metal brushing against the leather holster was enough for the dragon to work out were he was... and that he was within striking distance. With this knowledge the smaller dragon readied herself to attack. _'Its just beside me... I must stop it from hurting us...'_ She was about to attack when Jade spoke rather darkly. "Don't even think about it..." the dragoness was caught off guard but quickly her suspicions were raised. "Why shouldn't I?" her voice echoed in the cavern but was clearly weak and afraid. Jade didn't reply with word. Instead he reached to his waist and pulled out a small pocket knife, the dragoness saw this and immediately tried to bite him. But Jade was far too quick and he grabbed her under the fore arms, completely taking her weight off the rope holding her. She tried to move her neck around to bite him, but was thrown off balance when he cut through the rope holding her up. She fell into him and he caught her, knife still in hand. She struggled a bit but he had a strong grip on her, Jade grimaced as her rough scales chaffed his skin. "Stop struggling and I'll put you down."

She was startled by what he said, _'Can I trust him? Should I trust him? He smells like apes...'_ lost in her thoughts she didn't realize she had stopped struggling and he gently set her on the ground. As her feet touched the ground she was jolted out of her thoughts. _'Oops. How did I get so distracted?' _She slowly turned to face Jade who just stared back into her eyes. She was the first to speak, she tried, and failed to hide the fear in her voice. "Who are you?"

Jade twitched a smile across his face before replying. "My name is Jade, but could we skip the formalities? We need to get back to safety." She stole a glance at her companion, immediately regretting it as she turned away, bile rising from her stomach. Jade felt sorry for her, without really knowing why, but he quickly put it out of his mind as he turned to the larger dragon.

He repeated what he had done with the smaller dragoness, only he carried it on his back. He grimaced at having to do it, as its the blood soaked into his clothes and prevented him from moving with the stealth he had when he came in. But the main problem Jade had with carrying the dragon was that he couldn't get to his pistol without risking the dragon falling off his back. He knew better to complain though and with the dragon balanced awkwardly on his back, Jade slowly trudged back the way he came. As he moved closer to the crystals littering the floor they suddenly leapt into the air and flew straight to the dragon on his back. It all happened so fast that Jade didn't have time to react. Although Jade was stunned by the crystals unexpected jump into life, the dragoness at his side didn't seem at all fazed by it.

Jade looked down the dragoness who looked up at him when she realized his gaze was on her. The eyes looked for the briefest of moments before she looked away. Jade raised his eyebrows as he turned to face the way out, _'Ok... that might have actually been normal...' _Part of his mind wanted to ask the dragoness at his side what had just happened, but he quickly pushed that part away as he concentrated on the task at hand.

He hesitantly continued back the way he had came, deliberately taking the route away from the remaining crystals. So distracted avoiding the crystals that he didn't notice that the dragon he was carry was now breathing easier. While the dragoness walked through the crystals, most flying into her as she walked.

Jade quickly started moving back down the tunnel he had came through with the dragoness keeping pace quite easily beside him. In the near pitch black of the tunnel Jade couldn't see the puddles of semi dried blood, so every few steps he took resulted in a disgusting sucking sound as he lifted his feet. Jade grimaced every time his shoe caught in the blood, but the dragoness bore every step with increasing dread.

Despite her best efforts, she couldn't distract herself from the blood soaking the floor, her blood. The only thing she gained from been able to see the blood in the darkness, was that she could avoid it. She was so distracted by her conflicting need to look away from the blood and to look where she was going that she didn't notice that they had reached the main tunnel until Jade gave her a slight kick to get her attention. "Wait.

Jade and the dragoness took a moment to scan the dark tunnel, from what they saw there was nothing. Jade was about to take a step when the dragoness bit onto his trousers. He stopped and looked back down at her. She was scanning the tunnel still and from the look on her face, didn't think something was right. She spoke rather abruptly but quietly. "Can't you feel that...?" Jade looked back at the tunnel, it was eerie, silent and... dark. Not dull like before, but moonless night black dark.

Jade looked up at the ceiling, all of the holes that had filtered light down before, were covered up. Only a few dull beams managed to filter down through the cracks. _'Oh shit... that's not a good sign...' _Jade took another look around before freeing his right hand and taking out his pistol. The dragon on his back became slightly looser but it wouldn't have minded, well, it might mind about the noise Jade's pistol will make.

Jade gestured to the dragoness and they silently continued. It didn't take long for them to be noticed, a limping dragon and a human carrying a dragon aren't all that quiet. Fortunately for Jade and his companions, orcs, are very noisy creatures... despite the heads up the orcs gave the rumble was still the last thing Jade wanted right about now. _'Can't I have a break? Seriously!' _

Wether Jade liked it or not, four orcs came bursting out of the ground just ahead of them. Jade raised his pistol to take the first shot. _'Three bullets, four bad guys. Great... just fucking great.' _Jade was squinting in the darkness to line up the sights, he picked his first target and was about to shoot when a pillar of earth burst up from the ground. Impaling the orc and sending its body flying out of sight. The other three looked amongst themselves before two more pillars shot up, both hitting their mark and sending the orcs well off into the distance. Jade took a quick glance at the dragoness at his side, her face contorted with concentration. _'Wow. For a little dragon... she's pretty good.' _

She suddenly collapsed to the ground from the effort and Jade cursed under his breath. _'Crap! Well, I'm screwed.' _He looked back at the one remaining orc, it looked at were its comrades had been before its hate filled eyes fell on the unconscious dragoness. Jade shifted his pistol over to it and unleashed a single shot the hit it fair in the chest. It stumbled back but didn't fall. Jade was noticeable surprised at its survival but didn't waste time releasing another shot into it. The second shot did its job and the orc fell backwards, exploding into the red and green crystals.

Jade looked back down at the unconscious dragoness by his side. _'This... this could be difficult...' _a faint rumbling in the distance forced him to take the only decision available. He hurriedly holstered his pistol and made a dash to the cover of the nearest boulder. He took just a few seconds to get the dragon of his back and onto the ground, Jade tried to be gentle, but you really can't be all that gentle when you're in a rush. He gave the dragon a quick check before sprinting back to the dragoness.

She was still unconscious so Jade roughly picked her up and made another dash back to the cover of the boulder. _'To think, I could have taken a vacation... But no, I had to work, and end up soaked in dragon blood, avoiding monsters in a dark tunnel and dealing with talking animals...' _

The dragoness grunted as Jade set her down. Jade was about to try and talk to her when the arrival of more orcs drew his attention. He quickly ducked down, hoping that he hadn't been seen yet. After a few seconds of silence he drew his pistol. He slowly poked his head around the corner, catching a glimpse of the six orcs grouped around a boulder just a few metres away from him. _'Oh yeah... one shot...'_ Jade scowled at his predicament but didn't even move his head back to see what he was doing as he unbuttoned the next magazine from its pocket, or as he readied the new magazine to replace the near empty one in his pistol. He drew a deep breath before he dropped the magazine from his pistol and slammed the new one in. The dull cluck of the magazine hitting the ground was enough to draw the attention of all six of the orcs.

As soon as the first orc looked up, Jade's pistol was lined up with its head. A metallic crack signalled the end of the orc's life as it collapsed to the ground, its companions didn't even look at it's body as they charged towards Jade. Another five shots quickly ended the rest's lives before they even came close to the boulder Jade was hiding behind.

Jade looked over the six bodies, the first exploded in more green and red crystals causing Jade to jump. _'That is REALLY annoying.' _

After a moment of looking out across the empty tunnel Jade spun back around to the two unconscious dragons. Jade immediately noticed larger dragon was starting to slip further into death's embrace, while the smaller dragoness was starting to stir back into consciousness. Jade's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of more orcs erupting from the earth. _'I hate these things...' _

He looked between the two dragons and the small clouds of dust filtering in from behind some of the boulders. Jade muttered a curse under his breath before looking down the wall of the tunnel for the hole he came through. He quickly found it, about 100 metres to his left, 100 metres of completely bare rock. Jade quickly weighed up his options. But not a single option came to mind that would get the all back to the other side safely.

There was a soft groan from the dragoness which caught Jade's attention. He quickly darted to her side and covered her mouth. She struggled meekly in his grip until she felt the tremors in the earth. Her blood immediately turned cold and she stopped struggling. Much to Jade's relief.

They sat in complete silence, listening to the heavy foot steps of the orcs. As the footsteps got closer the dragoness buried her head deeper into Jade's chest, trying to drown at the soft whimpers she was making. The footsteps stopped abruptly, followed immediately by harsh voices. Jade strained to hear what they were saying, catching only a few words. "... ova' 'ere... footprints... be 'ery, 'ery..."

Jade looked down at the ground, and the trail of bloody foot prints he had left behind. He over at the unconscious dragon, it's life was in his hands. _'I'm not leaving him behind...'_ He gently reached past the dragoness head, his hands fumbling with his jackets pockets. The orcs continued to creep closer towards them, even though each of their foot steps echoed like thunder in the tunnel. Jade's hand finally emerged from his jacket, an object barely bigger then his fist gripped tightly in his fingers. The dragoness at the object before moving her gaze to Jade.

Jade sensing her eyes on him looked back at her, loosen his grip on her. "When I say run, you go as fast as you can along the wall. There is a tunnel that goes to the other side." She whimpered slightly and tried to speak but Jade silence her with his finger. "I'll be right behind you, I have to get your friend." She paused a second to look at the other dragon before looking back at Jade and nodding. Jade, happy she knew what she was doing, pulled the pin on the grenade in his hand. _'1, 2, 3...' _On three he threw the grenade towards the sound of the orcs and moved over the still unconscious dragon. _'...4, 5.' _"Run now!" His voice was drowned out by the agonising screams of the orcs as the grenade detonated, covering them in freezing liquid nitrogen.

The dragoness didn't waste time, she bolted out of the cover running as fast as her legs would carry her towards the hole in the wall. Jade hastily picked up the dragon, again under estimating the dragon's weight and nearly toppling over. He quickly regained his composer and dashed along the wall. The dragoness was already half way to the hole, Jade grimaced at the distance he had to cover to safety. _'At least there aren't any snipers... right...?'_

Jade's pace was remarkably slow. He knew he should be going faster, but his legs just couldn't move faster while keeping himself balanced. And Jade wasn't planning on stopping having to pick up the dragon again. Jade managed to get half way across the gap before the orcs saw him. There were shout of outrage as their prize escaped. As Jade looked up at the hole he noticed that the dragoness was waiting. He honestly wasn't expecting that and thought it was quite courageous, but something inside him thought it was a bad idea.

Jade continued to move as fast as he could. He could hear the thumps of the orcs running behind him, they were close. And getting closer. A large clump of rock suddenly flew past Jade, slamming into an orc behind him. Jade looked up again to see the dragoness spitting out another ball of rock which thundered past Jade and again slammed into an orc.

The dragoness was deep in concentration trying to summon the energy to attack. Again she found an energy reverse and she charged up another bolt of earth. This one was much larger then the other two, and when she fired it, the force sent her sliding backwards. _'Wow... that was fun!'_ The bolt itself flew at the pace of an arrow, shotting past Jade and the first of the orcs before exploding, sending orcs flying in all directions. Most were killed instantly and even exploded into crystals before they landed, but some slammed into walls before dying, but there was a few that weren't killed.

The shock wave continued past the orcs, slamming into Jade and throwing him off balance sending him and the dragon sprawling across the ground. Small rocks and dirt erupted into the air. Jade received several cuts and bruises from the rocks but ignored them as his pistol bounced out of his holster and out of sight. He muttered a curse but quickly started looking for the two dragons. _'I did not get them this far to lose them!'_

He looked up to see the dragon he had been carrying in front of him just out of arms reach. He made to go pick him up again but an orc suddenly burst from the ground and charged straight at the dragon. Jade reacted immediately by leaping up to crash tackle the monster before it got closer. He managed to knock his opponent to the ground, even sending it a few metres further away from the dragon, but the orc's the size and brute strength gave it the advantage in the fight. It quickly gained the upper hand, pinning Jade underneath it immense weight. It clamped one of its huge hands around his throat and starting to squeeze the life out of him. Jade squirmed under its weight trying to find a weakness in its grasp. It took him a few moments to work out it didn't matter, it was too heavy. Jade desperately threw a punch right under its jaw. It hardly noticed the blow as it raised its fist to give the final blow.

A flash of green slammed into the orc, toppling it off of Jade. Jade coughed for air, he could taste blood at the back of his throat but ignored it. He looked back down at the dragon he had found, expecting it be standing up ready for a fight. But the dragon was still lying exactly were Jade had seen it last. There was a loud cracking sound followed closely by a yelp which brought Jade to his actually saviour.

The dragoness might have been able to knock the orc to the ground, but like with Jade, the creature's immense weight gave it the upper hand. The dragoness was currently latched onto the orc's neck, one of her wings hanging limply by her side and her claws digging into the orcs rock like skin. Not that one could have told the difference, but there was tears rolling from her eyes. The orc snarled in pain and grabbed the dragoness's head and ripped it off of its neck, roaring in pain as the dragoness's teeth tore ripping off skin. It brought the dragoness level to its blood maddened eyes. She immediately started to panic. But before the orc had even had a chance to raise its fist, Jade's pocket knife had plunged into its neck.

A savage, and slightly gurgled, roar of complete agony rose from its throat. But Jade wasn't finished, with the blade down to the hilt he yanked it to the side, ripping through the orc's wind pipe and arteries. It immediately let go the dragoness, and tried to cover its wounds which were spilling out jet black blood. It never saw Jade adjust his grip on the knife and lunge towards it again, not until the blade was right between its eyes, milliseconds away from been driven into its skull.

There was a sicken crack as the blade drove through the thick skull and into the orc's brain. It was dead before the blade had even gone down to the hilt. The orc fell to the ground, the knife still lodged in its skull. Black blood poured out of the wounds, and the orc continued to twitch on the ground for a moment before exploding. The knife fell to the ground with a clutter, the pool of blood slowly disappearing. Soft groans from the dragoness drew Jade's attention, and he spun around to face her. She was lying on her side limp, one of her wings was bent in an un-natural angle and blood trickled down her nose. But the gentle rising of her chest signified she was still alive. Jade let out the breath he had been holding and moving down to her side.

She hadn't realized Jade was there, so she was startled when he placed his hand on her chest. She snapped her neck around and tried to bite at Jade, catching his un-protected arm. She realized it was Jade before she bit down hard enough to cause serious injury. But she still drew blood though, leaving a worse taste in her mouth then the orc's blood. Jade clenched his fists at the pain but didn't retaliate. The dragoness froze, her jaw still locked around Jade's arm. Her mind was of little help, running a single thought constantly. _'Uh oh... I think he might kill me now...'_ After a moment she gently opened her jaw, freeing his arm. He continued to stare into her startled, and now somewhat afraid, eyes as she tried to apologise. Only managing to open and close her mouth before any words came out. She finally gave up, looking away form Jade's eyes. The bite wasn't that bad, with the jacket having taking the majority of the blow, only thin trails of blood came from the breaks in the skin.

The dragoness finally managed to get her voice. "I'm... I'm sorry. I thought you... I didn't know..." Jade gently reached out and put his hand under the dragoness chin, moving her head back to his. There eyes locked again, it was clear that she was fearful of what he was going to say. Jade took a moment to stare into her eyes before speaking. "It's ok. You're forgiven."

She let out a deep sigh. _'Ok... he isn't going to kill me... But what then...?' _She looked back up at Jade who was now looking at her broken wing. She followed his gaze and found herself whimpering at the sight of her wing. The bone had fractured just before the elbow, removing all support from the rest of the wing which hung limply across the ground.

Jade broke the silence. "Can you walk with... uh... like that?" the dragoness inspected her wing closer before answering. "Yes. I think so..." the only thing she forgot to mention was that it would most likely be extremely painful dragging her wing along. Jade noticed her hesitation but rose to his feet. The dragoness slowly rose as well, carefully trying to avoid putting to much stress on her broken wing.

Jade waited for the dragon to walk up to his side before slowly walking along with her to her companion. It was only a few metres away but they took their time, Jade easily seeing the pain she was in. Jade noticed a glint of silver out of the corner of his eyes. He strained his eyes trying to get a better look. His eyes finally made out the shape of his pistol, its polished metal heavily contrasting against the dull rocks. _'Well, this isn't looking to glum after all.'_

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**Not a lot happened in this chap... he killed the bad guys, got the dragons, kill the bad guys at the way out, and yeah... (and of course he lost and then found his gun)  
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**Meh, more will happen in the next chap... (when I get around to it...) until then, ENJOY!  
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	7. Chapter 7

**_i finally got round to finishing this chap... i think that holidays would give u more time but it all disapears so fast... anyways, hope you enjoy this chap._**

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With his pistol back in his holster Jade carefully picked up the dragon, it was beginning to wake and struggled in his grip, but not enough for Jade to drop him. The dragoness was waiting impatiently for Jade to catch up to her. She bit down on her lips to suppress the pain of her broken wing, her tears mixing with the sweat on her face.

When Jade finally caught up to her she stole a glance at the dragon, his was face coated with a thin layer of dirt stuck to his face by his blood. His expression twisted with pain, and although she couldn't see the gashes on him, she could she the blood soaking Jade. She didn't feel sick though, in fact she didn't feel anything.

Jade noticed the tears amongst her sweaty face immediately. He sighed deeply as he passed the thought of her tears out of his mind. _'If she doesn't want to let me know, that's her choice...' _Jade felt the dragon twitch its wings, which where draped down his back, but he didn't notice the dragon's talons tighten on his jacket.

Jade motioned for the dragoness to go down through the hole, she grunted slightly as she started making her way along the rough rock hole. The light on the other side wasn't really bright but compared to the light they were in it was near blinding.

So after trudging through the two metre or so thick hole they appeared on the far side of the wall. The dragoness walked out first and was immediately confronted by the three guardians posed defensively around the mouth of the tunnel. She froze upon seeing them, Jade's eyes however didn't adjust to the light quick enough so when he came out he tripped on the dragonesses tail and fell face first onto the ground. He took most of the fall for the dragon on his back though, cracking a few of his own ribs in the process.

Jade rolled his head to the side to face the dragoness. She was looking between him and guardians, trying to decide who was scary. Jade was tempted to glare at her but couldn't bring himself to.

There was a long moment in which no-one moved, no-one spoke and no-one breathed. They could all see the blood on two dragons, and the dragonesses limp wing.

The yellow guardian was the first to move, he was above Jade in just a barely a second. He gently bit down on the dragon's neck and lifted it off of Jade. The blue dragon appeared above the dragoness and repeated the process. The two dragons were carried to Meadow and the healers as dragons eagerly watched to see if they survived. Jade never got a chance to see the dragons get that far, his view was blocked by the green guardian as it towered above him. Jade sensed that he was in for some kind of lecture so he picked himself up and faced the green dragon. It's green eyes looked over his blood soaked clothes, his blood nose and his bleeding arm.

They both stood in silence for what felt like an eternity. Jade's breathing was slightly hoarse due to his broken ribs but he still managed to stand up straight. The dragon seemed come to a conclusion and gestured for Jade to follow. Jade got so far as taking two steps before his world he collapsed back to the ground. The dragon spun around expecting a fight. Jade could feel himself slipping away, he knew what came next. Darkness.

Jade came too almost as soon as he had blacked out. Only, now he wasn't in the tunnel, he was in a clearing, trees lined the edges and an ancient temple sat in the farthest corner. As his eyes cracked opened his hand instinctively reached for his pistol. As soon as he felt the empty holster all the noises of the forest suddenly became clearer. The rustle of the leaves, the groaning of the trees and the scuttling of small creatures in the under growth, all became as loud as his heart beating inside his head. He didn't move for nearly five full minutes before slowly rising to his feet.

Standing, Jade could feel the chilling breeze that wafted through the forest. But more importantly, he could see the ruins of what might have once been a grand temple resting on the opposite side of the clearing. The crumbling sandstone couldn't have looked more out of place in the lush forest.

Jade stood and admired the temple for a moment, "Where the hell am I now?" He asked the air. After a moment of silence a voice replied, "Deep inside the western forest little one." Jade jumped so much ended up tripping over himself in his fright, landing heavily on his back, but facing the source of the voice.

A pale blue dragon wearing a gold pack filled with ancient scrolls stood proudly above Jade, a huge glowing blue gem hung across it's neck on a gold chain. It towered three and a bit metres above Jade and its wings were torn on their edges. Its eyes seemed to shine understanding and caring as they stared into Jade's mind.

After a moment of silence the dragon spoke again, "Hello Jade, my name is the Chronicler." Jade simply blinked stupidly in response. Expecting some sort of reply, the Chronicler waited, after another moment of silence he continued with a slight chuckle in its voice. "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to bite."

"Ok... Chronicler..." Jade froze before he asked about the dragon's name, instead he asked, "Would you happen to be able to explain what happened to me?"

"Ah, now that is an excellent question, but it must wait for another time."

Jade narrowed his eyes before getting back onto his feet, he was about to speak but the Chronicler interrupted him. "Now as for your training..."

"Wait, what training?"

"Why yes, how else to you think you can learn to master your ability?"

"What ability?"

The Chronicler smiled slightly at Jade before continuing, "You little one, control the element ice, a powerful element but not unfortunately in my field of expertise. Cyril will have to teach you, but I shall teach you another, equally important part of your ability." As the Chronicler paused for the briefest of moments, Jade interrupted, "What ability?!"

"Well, the power of shape shifting of course."

Jade was left speechless by his words. Even though knew the words couldn't be true, there was part of his mind that believed what he was saying. The Chronicler saw his disbelief and even saw the flecks of doubt that lingered in his eyes. As he looked into Jade's eyes he realised that he would need some convincing of his ability. Slowly he raised his paw up to Jade's chest, placing the tip of his talon onto Jade's chest. For a long moment nothing happened, and Jade started to wonder what exactly was supposed to happen. The next thing he knew, pain was tearing through his body and he was collapsing onto the ground, unable to control his own body.

Jade's skin felt line it was been burned off, his bones felt like they were been stretched and distorted, and his insides felt like were been scrambled. The Chronicler took a step backward as Jade's skin rapidly sprouted pale blue scales, his jacket suddenly burst as a pair of midnight blue wing erupted from his back. A long tail with a dark blue blade on it tip was soon to follow and his pants were torn to shreds by his growing legs. Dark blue, plate like scales slowly emerged on his chest and belly, contrasting vividly against his pale blue hide. A short snout slowly formed from his mouth and two dark blue horns burst from the back of his skull, all the while his neck continued to stretch out, small spines sprouting down his back. He was just over two and half metres long and would be a meter and a half tall. This all took just less then a few seconds, but he continued to wither and twist in pain for another minute as his insides settled.

As the pain slowly start to subside, Jade tried to rise onto his feet. He barely took on half his weight before he collapsed back onto the pile of rags that were once his clothes. His heavy breathing creating a frost on the grass by his face, The Chronicler noted this as a good sign of his health and let out the breath he had been holding. After a moment of listening to Jade's heavy breathing The Chronicler spoke. "I should have mentioned it might be extremely painful..."

Jade managed to cough a slight laugh, but words were still beyond him, although there were a few he would have loved to say right about now...

After nearly a full minute Jade tried to stand again, this time he was more successful, staying on his four legs for a moment before his hind legs gave out and he fell into a sitting position. He craned his neck around and he looked at his new form. His wings immediately caught his attention and he slowly stretched them out to their full length. The next thing that caught his eye was his tail as it flicked from side to side.

For a moment Jade stared at his tail, trying to get control over it. He quickly he gave up and left it to continue to flick by itself, having already had his attention drawn to his long talons. All the while a single thought was going through his mind; _'If I can't breath some kind of fire then this dream will just suck.'_. He continued to look at his new form for half a minute before the Chronicler disturbed him. "Jade, I don't want to... interrupt you, but our time is running short and you had best learn to control your new body."

"By control do you mean... flying?"

"One thing at a time, and walking comes first."

Jade was slightly annoyed at the Chronicler. So he again tried to stand, managing to keep his balance on all fours he took a hesitant step forward. The Chronicler tried to hide his surprise but failed, Jade smiled broadly as he took another few steps, wobbling slightly but staying upright. The Chronicler couldn't help but admire his determination, but he quickly pushed it away.

After just over two hours Jade was clumsily flying behind the Chronicler, just barely keeping up. But the Chronicler seemed to think it was enough and he gracefully landed. Jade however, tripped on his landing and fell face first into the ground adding to the collection of bruises and cuts he had earned in the past few hours. The Chronicler couldn't help but laugh as Jade coughed out the tuffs of grass and dirt. "You will need to practise your landing, but other then that you should be fine."

"Thanks for the advice, got any more?" Jade muttered sarcastically.

"None that relates to you flying abilities but there is something else..." he voice trailed off and immediately perked up Jade's curiosity.

Before he could ask the Chronicler continued. "You can change back and forth between your dragon form, and your human form." This caught Jade off guard, and fixed the thought that this was a dream into his mind. _'Well, what shape shifter can't shift back?'_

In truth he hadn't thought about been human again, but at the thought of it he suddenly longed to be back in the body he knew. "Ok then... how do I, change?"

"Well now that you have changed once it is fairly simple, you just need to concentrate on been human again."

"Is that all?"

The Chronicler paused to think for a moment before answering simply, "Yes."

"Will it be as painful as before?" the suspicion was clear in Jade's voice and the Chronicler gave a guilty look. "I don't believe so." Jade thought about his words for a moment before thinking about his human form. Almost instantly his body changed back. There was no extreme pain, only a weird tingling sensation throughout his body which lasted only a few seconds. _'Well that wasn't too bad...' _It was then that a cold breeze blew across his naked body.

The Chronicler diverted his gaze and Jade tried to cover himself up as best he could. Before he could say anything the Chronicler spoke. "Well our time together has come to an end. But before you go I'm going to need you to tell Cyril that Spyro and Cynder are in Warfang and are in need of help."

Jade cocked his head to the side as he thought, but again, before he could speak the Chronicler continued. "Oh, before you do anything rash, this is not a dream." Jade barely heard the words as he fell to the ground and disappeared with a dull flash. The Chronicler paused for a moment before looking up at the two moons in the sky. _'I certainly hope the ancestors are right about this...'_

Terrador heard the dull thump behind him and immediately spun around expecting an attack. He noticed Jade slumped on the ground, unconscious or dead he wasn't sure. For a long moment he listened to the earth, and apart from the shuffling of the dragons behind him it was silent. He lowered his guard slightly but still waited a few moments before moving towards Jade.

He slowly reached down and bit down on the back of Jade's jacket. The blood soaked jacket left a bitter taste in his mouth but held down the disgust and forced himself to lift Jade off the rocky ground and back to the others. He muttered a few curses through his clenched teeth and hoped that no-one saw him carrying Jade this way.

Meadow was kneeling beside the smaller of the two dragons, he had been given her to heal by himself. Mainly because he wasn't as skilled in healing then the other healers and although her injuries were severe, her companion's were far worse. Meadow sighed deeply as he looked back down at the dragoness. She couldn't have been more the seven years old but her body was already covered in scars. The gash on her chest would soon add that collection but it would be far from the largest.

She seemed to notice his gaze and rolled her head to face him. Meadow instantly saw the tears she was holding in her eyes. He opened his mouth to ask how she was, but thought better of it and instead asked her, her name. She paused a moment as if she had forgotten it before answering simply, "Amina."

"Amina?" Meadow repeated, "That's a beautiful name."

Amina would have blushed but her body lacked the strength, she did however manage to muster a slight smile. Meadow gently placed his paws on her muzzle and set her head back on the ground.

"Amina, I'm going to heal your wounds now, but you need to stay still. Can you do that?"

She replied by nodding her head slightly. Meadow paused a moment before moving his paws down to the open wound on her chest. She winced at the contact but held her tongue. A moment later and a warm tingling sensation ran through her body. Amina couldn't feel her wounds closing but she knew that they were. Meadow could feel the rapid drop in his energy as he healed her, he knew his limits well and this was border lining them. After just half a minute Meadow finished, his paws still had traces of Amina's blood but the wound itself had healed over, leaving a barely noticeable scar. He slowly moved his paws up to her broken wing, as gently as he could Meadow popped the bone back into place. Amina tensed from the pain but it was quickly washed away as the bone melded back together. After another minute, Meadow finished healing her.

Amina felt the tingling sensation leave and slowly rolled her head to look at Meadow. He was breathing heavily and his red fur was coated in sweat. She managed to find the energy to thank him politely. Meadow smiled softly before gently lifting her to her feet. She wobbled on her feet but quickly a customised to supporting herself.

"Come, lets go find your parents." Meadow said with a grin.

Amina couldn't stop the sorrow passing across her face but quickly buried it down inside her. Meadow didn't notice and he lead her to the crowd of dragons without another thought.

The other two healers desperately tried to heal the other dragon's wounds but it was a losing battle. They fought ten minutes before they lost the dragon. Terrador looked down sadly at the unmoving body of the dragon, its wounds had been healed over but it had lost too much blood to survive. He shook his head to clear his mind before turning back to the gate.

Terrador knew that it was nearly ten feet thick which was why he hadn't tried to knock it down in the first place. Instead he had gotten several of the younger dragons to see if they could fix the gate from the other side. He pounded the ground with his paw, _'What a stupid call that was! You should have felt the orcs on the other side and just broke through the gate!' _

Volteer came up beside him and seeing the shame on his face, knew he what he was doing. "It is not you fault Terrador." Volteer scowled. Terrador looked up at his fellow guardian, he knew better then to try to argue with Volteer, but still he couldn't accept his words. After a moment Volteer repeated himself, his voice sterner this time. Terrador puffed out a cloud of dust and stomped to the gate. He didn't bother with the mechanism that opened it, having tried that so many times he had lost count.

Volteer shook his head sadly before turning back to the dead dragon. It would need to be carried back to Warfang and he wasn't looking forward to carrying it. He noticed Jade unconscious on the ground and stole a glance back at Terrador. He mind quickly thought up a hundred ways and reason Terrador would try to kill Jade. But he quickly pushed the thoughts away.

Terrador rose up onto his hind legs and slammed his paws into the gate. He sensed the strength of the rock, but quickly started looking for weak point in it. After just a moment he found one, he made a mental note of it and continued looking. When he had found another six he concentrated his energy. He felt his rage bubbling inside his heart and suddenly threw it into the gate. The weak points immediately joined together, cracking the rock between them into rumble. Terrador let his rage power him as he pushed all the boulders to the far side of the gate, revealing a huge hole about four meters high and seven meters across.

All of the dragons sat open mouthed at the display of strength, staring between the hole and Terrador himself. Even Volteer and Cyril were surprised by his display of power.

Terrador spun around and stomped back to the others. "Cyril you will carry," he paused a moment as he tried to remember the name, "Jade, to Warfang. Volteer, you will assist the dragons with moving the young." Both guardians nodded in agreement but Volteer seemed slightly puzzled. Terrador didn't notice it and pushed past them and addressed the collection of dragons behind them. "Attention! We are continuing on out way to Warfang, if you need assistance talk to my fellow guardians or myself. So let's get going!"

There were a few murmurs amongst the crowd but they all quickly prepared to go. Many of the younger dragons were carried by their parents, but most walked by themselves. Terrador slowly came over to the dead dragon. Noah... He had been the only orphan in the group, but he still had an amazing spirit. He let out an exasperated sigh before picking up the body in his jaws. Volteer noticed the sadness on his face from several meters away but couldn't comfort him now.

Cyril bit down on Jade's jacket and hefted him up. Meadow had volunteered to carry Jade's pack and rifle freeing Cyril from any un-necessary weight. Still Jade's weight was easily handled. He looked down the tunnel and could just make out the faintest speck of light in the distance. He sighed to himself before joining in the crowd of dragons as they slowly moved along. It was going to be a long few hours.

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**yes i finally named the dragoness! and i am still in the tunnel... -_-**

**i must get out of this damned tunnel soon or i'll go insane... (like im not already but still)**


	8. Chapter 8

_Ahaha! ima not dead! im alive and very likely insane. but here's a new chap, enjoy it, review (which u wont do but I can still ask) and... yeah here u go_

_ Lol, Spyro's back. YAY! And its a long chap, (nearly 3,800)_

_

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Jade slowly gained consciousness, groaning slightly as he tried to muster the strength to get his body moving. He slowly cracked open his eyes and instantly saw the ground moving beneath him. He took a moment to react but when he did he nearly fell out of the dragon's grip. Cyril, thankfully, managed to keep a hold on Jade and prevent him from falling, not that the three meter drop would've killed him.

After a moment Jade noticed that he was been carried by the blue dragon and he calmed down. The dragon slowly lowered Jade back to the ground and let go off Jade's jacket. Jade wobbled on his feet but stayed up. The dragon chuckled warmly. "Don't worry little one." The dragon's English accent seemed distant in Jade's mind. "I'm not going to hurt you." The dragon paused to see if Jade would speak. When he didn't he decided to change the subject. "How are you feeling anyway?"

Jade took a moment to gather his confidence before replying, "Okay... just a little dazed I guess..." Jade took a deep breath before continuing, "What happened?"

The dragon pondered at his question for a moment before answering it. "You blacked out a few hours ago and we are in such a rush I carried you."

"And your name was...?"

The dragon chuckled lightly before answering. "It's Cyril. Shade mentioned yours... Jade right?" Jade gave a slight nod which Cyril pondered at for a few moments. Jade suddenly remember what the Chronicler had told him, "Cyril, the Chronicler told me to tell you that, umm... Spyro and... Cynder, I think it was, are in Warfang and they need help." Cyril stood half stunned staring at Jade, after a moment it finally sunk in.

"Jade, stay here." With that Cyril dashed towards the front of the group, hoping he hadn't drifted too far behind Terrador. Jade watched as Cyril disappeared into the crowd. "It's ok, not like I have any idea where we're going..." Jade called after him.

With nothing else to do he slumped back on to the ground and closed his eyes. After about five minutes Cyril returned, Jade was already half asleep by then. "Jade, this is no time to sleep" there was a slight tinge of annoyance in Cyril's voice.

"But-"

"Up now!"

Jade groaned in annoyance but picked himself up, muttering a string of curses as he did. Cyril was impatiently clicking his claws, and as soon as Jade was up he was practically dragging him to the front of the column of dragons. The dragons all split a path for them but Jade got a few muffled growls as he passed. Jade passed them off as nothing but his mind started wondering why he was hated.

After another five maybe ten minutes they caught up to Terrador. He was leading the mass of dragons and was several metres ahead of the other dragons. Cyril called out his name and he replied with a muffled grunt.

Terrador hadn't known how to react when Cyril had informed him that Jade had had a vision from the Chronicler and he was told that Spyro and Cynder, the two saviours of the world, where in need of help. Mainly because to be called upon by Chronicler is amongst the most revered responsibilities of a dragon, and another species been called upon was... practically unheard of. Much less some unknown creature that greatly resembled, and smelt like, apes.

Cyril was at Terrador's side in an instant while Jade took another moment to appear on the far side of him. They walked on in silence for another minute before Terrador stopped. He gentle placed Noah's body on the ground and turned to face the line of dragons behind him.

"We rest here for five minutes!" Terrador's voice echoed like thunder in the confinements of the tunnel. Not waiting to see how his order was reacted to Terrador spun around to face Jade. Cyril, still standing between them, quickly moved out of the way.

Terrador lowered his head until he was eye level with Jade. His intimidating frown didn't spur a reaction from Jade, who stood there staring back. After nearly a minute of staring, Terrador finally spoke. "The Chronicler told you that you Spyro and Cynder were in need of help in Warfang."

Jade promptly answered 'yes' despite it been a statement not a question. Terrador's stare didn't waver as he ordered Cyril to go gather a group of runners, Cyril looked slightly offended at been ordered around but he didn't say anything. Jade and Terrador listened to his heavy steps as he walked off, never breaking the stare.

"That wasn't the only thing the Chronicler told you was it." Terrador smiled slightly as Jade blinked. "He told showed you that you are a dragon didn't he." It took every bit of Jade's self control to stop himself from gasping at Terrador's statement. But the look in his eyes was enough for Terrador to know. Before ether of them could speak Cyril came back with the Cheetahs, Shade and pale blue dragon that easily could have been Cyril's daughter.

They waited patiently for Terrador to notice their presence, although the pale dragon at Cyril's side didn't have the patience of the others. After a moment of silence Terrador addressed the others. "Shade, Frost. You two are going to fly ahead to Warfang and see if you can find any sign of Spyro or Cynder." Both dragons nodded at his command before jumping into the air and disappearing down the tunnel.

Terrador turned his gaze to the cheetahs, "You will follow, we have reason to believe that Spyro and Cynder are injured and they may need your help." All seven Cheetahs nodded and made to leave, but Terrador gave them a glare that would have stopped the ancestors. "Jade will be going along with you."

All the Cheetahs looked stunned and a bit insulted, even Cyril jerked his head back in surprise. The Cheetahs all turned to face Jade, who's mouth was hanging open. He really wanted to try and talk his way out of it, just so he could talk to Terrador about what had just happened but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to.

Jade bent over his knees panting. They had left only thirty minutes ago in a full sprint, Jade had barely managed to keep up with the healers let alone the warriors who where out of sight, again. Meadow stopped to give Jade some words of encouragement but Jade waved him off before he even opened his mouth. "You go ahead, I'll catch up..."

"Warfang is still another mile away, are you sure you don't want me to carry you?"

"No, no..." Jade rose to his full height and started jogging again. "I'll get there..." Meadow cast a weary eye on Jade and quickly caught up with the other healers. They were easily three hundred yards ahead of him but he covered the distance quickly. The other two healers going along at a jog, chatting to each other as they did. Meadow couldn't make out any of the words until he was right behind them.

Rose, the larger red cheetah, had just finished what ever it was that she was saying and Pine, the smaller bluey green one instantly burst into a some what muffled laughter. "What did I miss?"

Both cheetahs jumped around to face Meadow but calmed down when they saw he was alone. Rose answered in a hushed tone. "We were just joking about the creature..."

"About how it smells like an ape." Pine cut in.

Meadow looked over his shoulder at Jade who was still well over three hundred yards away. "Yeah... its kinda creepy..."

"You don't say."

"Hush Pine, you don't want it to hear us."

Pine raised his hands defensively and nether three cheetahs spoke a word for the next four minutes as the light at the end of the tunnel was quickly growing larger.

Meadow looked out at across the dragon city, Warfang. Despite the final battle it was relatively intact. There were a few small trails of smoke drifting up from the dying fires caused by the war machines of Malifor's forces but the outer wall was in near perfect condition. They waited just under a minute for Jade to catch up, leaving as soon as he caught up.

"Come on guys... can't I just have a-"

"No!" was the reply from both Pine and Rose. Meadow glanced sympathetically at Jade but continued following the healers. Jade reluctantly followed them. Making a mental note that the city was huge, and that parts of it were on fire...

They were only a few hundred metres into the city when a shadow rushed over them. They all instinctively looked up and Jade reached for his rifle that was slung across his back. A few seconds later Shade landed heavily beside the cheetahs.

"We haven't seen any sign of Spyro or Cynder, but we did find a blood trail that led to a fire..." Shade paused for breath, "...And there are some orcs still in the city, we got some of them but we can't be sure if it's all of them."

Meadow looked grimly at his comrades. "Take us to the blood trail, we'll see if we can find anything there."

Shade took in a deep breath before taking off. "Quickly, it's this way."

After two or three minutes of running after Shade they reached the burnt out street. What had once been two or three story buildings on ether side had been reduced to a pile of ash and rubble. Cautiously Shade led them through the rubble to the far side of the burnt out street.

Several charred beyond recognition bodies were hidden under some of the rubble but they were passed off quickly as orcs. Rose walked past Shade and crouched down at the trail of blood. She hesitated for a moment before wiping the semi dried blood with her paw and sniffing it. Her instant reaction was a disgusted cough, "Yeah... this is dragon blood."

After a moment of silence only broken by the occasional snorting of Rose, Meadow spoke. "Where does this trail lead to?"

Shade blinked once before replying. "It starts at the eastern gate, and there were marks of a recent fight."

Meadow sucked in a deep breath before asking "Did you check in the surrounding streets?"

"Of course!" all the cheetahs jumped as Frost spoke for the first time, having been behind them since they reached the blood trail. "We didn't think to look at the streets around here! Why we saw the blood trail and thought, 'Hey! Lets follow the blood trail and if it doesn't lead anywhere then we'll sit on out paws and not look around at all.'" Frost settled down into a sitting position and glared at Meadow. After several moments of silence Pine broke the silence. "Did you find anything?"

Frost turned her glare over to him before answering. "There was a bloodied chain several yards around that corner," she made a vague gesture behind her without breaking the glare "and we found these on the roof..." again, without breaking the glare, Frost gestured at the building beside them and in the same movement threw the two brass cases.

Pine looked down at the two metal cases but hesitated in touching them. It was then that Jade walked over. Frost cocked her head slightly and shifted her glare over to him as he picked up both brass cases.

Rose looked up from the trail of blood, her face rather confused. "Why didn't you just follow the scent trail that leads away from here?"

Frost snapped her head around to face Rose but Shade spoke before she could run out the stream of insults that were about to leave her lips. "We followed their scent trail for a hundred or so yards that way," Shade made a gesture in the direction that Frost had made early, "but we lost it in a courtyard full of orcs." Shade ignored Frost eyes burning into the back of his head.

"Take us there." All three cheetahs said in unison.

Frost let out a low growl but Shade agreed and started heading towards the spot where they had lost the scent. The cheetahs followed closely behind Shade with Jade not far behind while Frost took up the back, still clearly agitated that her judgement was in question.

A minute later and the cheetahs were on all fours, searching for any scent that would lead them towards the two missing dragons. Frost and Shade stood back watching them and Jade was exploring some of the other roads that lead off from the court.

The cheetahs quickly admitted defeat, as the orcs scent was far too strong. Walking back over to the two waiting dragons the hung their heads low. Frost was about to speak when Shade cut him off. "Where's the ape?"

The cheetahs looked around behind them and let out an exasperated sigh, Frost and Shade laughed quietly. "Well, see if you can find his scent."

Rose turned her nose up at his comment. "And why would I be smelling for that disgusting monke-"

A thunderous 'crack' echoed throughout the city, followed almost instantly by more, slightly louder 'cracks'. They all shot their heads in the direction of the sound while Frost and Shade instantly took too the air.

Jade had followed the left road from the courtyard, it quickly lead to another court where he took a right. He made sure to mark each road he went down but after passing through six or seven more courtyards Jade had lost all sense of direction. He was about to start trying to head back when he noticed something unusual jutting out from around the next corner. He paused a moment before walking up to it. He bent down and made to pick it up. As soon as his hand had passed in front of it he spotted the red dot. Cursing himself for not realising it was trip wire Jade pulled out his rifle off his back, flicking the safety off as soon as the gun was in his hands.

Spyro was jolted out of his dreams by a sudden annoying beeping sound. He glanced over to Kate, whose head had snapped over to the corner of the room where the sound was coming from. The beeping continued for a few moments before Kate flew over to the corner and pulled out a large pack from nowhere. Spyro raised a ridge as she pulled out a small, palm sized device that was glowing. She stared at it for a moment before reaching back into the dark corner and pulling out a long dark object. As Spyro looked closer he saw that half of it was a rich polished wood with a dark metal tube coming out of one end. Kate pulled out a metal box from the bottom of it and quickly slammed it back in before dashing out the door. Cynder stirred slightly at Spyro's side but he simply starred at the door with a puzzled expression.

Kate dashed down the dark corridor, the rifle light in her hands as she closed the bolt. She burst into the huge hall at the end, taking the briefest of moments to let her eyes adjust to the increased light before sprinting across the room to the partly open metal doors. The rifle coming up to her shoulder, just before she walked into the sunlight.

She scanned the courtyard quickly before settling behind some rubble the rifle pointed straight at the road where the alarm had been set off. She waited just a few moments before the end of gun came around the corner. She could see every detail through the telescopic sight, the gun paused a moment before the person behind it swivelled around, exposing his body to her sights.

Cargo pants, dark boots, chest webbing, automatic rifle, and clearly military tactics. She took a moment to calm her breathing before she released a bullet into his chest. The deafening 'crack' of the shot vertebrated the air around her and the recoil jolted her sight off him but she had no doubts that she had hit him. She opened the bolt and the brass bullet casing popped out. No sooner had the casing hit the ground that the rubble she was hiding behind burst into a barrage of flying rock chips that peppered her body.

The roar of the automatic fire travelled far, but Kate could only just hear it over the sound of the rock she was behind been shredded. The fire stopped for a second and Kate came back up to fire another shot as he reloaded. Only to have another barrage of bullets fly at her. The rock shards peppered her face and drew small trickles of blood. She cursed under her breath before dashing back to the safety of the building. She considered waiting at the start of the corridor but thought better of it and dashed back to the safety of the room.

Jade carefully walked forwards, his rifle leading his way through the street. He came up to the next corner and hesitated. He poked the gun's muzzle around the corner and quickly spun around the corner. A large courtyard with a huge temple that was easily twenty or thirty metres above the ground confronted him. There was a lot of rubble around the temple and in the courtyard.

The next thing he knew, it felt like someone had punched him hard in the chest. Their was less then a moment for him to realise someone had shot him, a moment later he spotted the flash up near the door of the temple. Less then a moment after that he was looking down the sights releasing a steady burst at the rubble. After maybe twenty rounds he stopped, and waited.

He didn't have to wait long, less then a second later a head popped up from behind the rubble. He released the rest of his clip up the figure and she dashed back into the building. Jade quickly reloaded before bolting up the stairs. He was panting heavily by the time he was at the top but still held his rifle steady.

After pausing a moment, Jade entered the dull temple. He scanned rubble that littered the room but the distant sound of a door closing made him quicken his pace. There was four corridors leading off into different directions, two of them were open to the outside and eerily bright while the other two were nearly pitch black.

Sighing deeply too himself, Jade turned on his flashlight and started walking towards the closest dark corridor. It went on for, maybe a hundred metres, before coming to a dead end, closed doors lined both sides. Jade looked down at the floor and spotted a blood trail. Smiling to himself he started to follow it, practically walking down the entire corridor before the trail disappeared under the second last door.

Taking a position next to the door Jade took in a deep breath. "I am Squadron Leader Jade Di-" His voice was drowned out by a deafening shot, which blew a huge hole into the door. Splinters from the doors peppered his hands but didn't draw any blood. "So much for trying to be the nice guy..." Jade muttered to himself.

There was a moments silence before the door swung inwards. Jade smiled to himself and waited. A gun muzzle slowly poked its way out the door frame. In one swift movement Jade grabbed the muzzle and pushed it to the side, bringing his rifle up to the owner of the gun in the same motion. The gun went off, but shot into the empty corridor. Jade kicked with all his might at the shooter, knocking her to the ground.

Jade's gun was pointed directly at the person on the floor, and she looked up Jade with hatred in her eyes. Jade blinked slightly as he realised it was a girl. He glanced around the rest of the dimly lit room. He noticed the purple dragon crouched in attack position far too late to do anything. He managed to spin his rifle a quarter of the way around to dragon. There was a blue flash of light and Jade was suddenly thrown across the room, all the heat from his body instantly disappeared. Jade barely felt it as he was slammed into the wall, the coldness that had enveloped his body had numbed him completely. But fortunately the shards of ice that would have pierced his chest was stoped by his body armour.

Kate looked over at Spyro who was still glaring at man he had frozen. Slowly she turned back to the man and noticed the rifle was still grasped in his hands. Without really thinking she moved over and pulled the rifle out from his hands. Their eyes looked for a moment before he lost consciousness.

She crouched there for a moment, half holding his freezing gun and staring at his closed eyes. _'That couldn't... no... it... no...'_

The sound of more footsteps coming down the corridor jolted her from her thoughts. She yanked his rifle up and brought it to her shoulder, pointing it right at the door. Spyro sniffed the air and called out to her. "Kate! Its ok, it's the cheetahs."

Almost on queue Meadow appeared in the doorway, a dagger clasped in his hands. He looked from Jade on the floor to Kate pointing Jade's rifle at him and finally to Spyro standing between him and Cynder.

After a moment of silence Kate lowered the rifle and Spyro, realising it was Meadow, rushed over and gave him hug. Rose and Pine rushed up behind them and the clicking claws on the floor gave away Shade's and Frost's presence. Rose and Pine pushed past Meadow, glanced at Kate who had a slightly confused look on her face, and went over to Cynder. Meadow said a few muffled words to Spyro and went over to Jade while Spyro went over to Cynder.

Shade looked between Kate and the hole in the door with a sceptical look as Frost came up beside him also staring at the hole in the door. And Kate stood there her head cocked to the side staring at Jade.

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_Lol, Jade got owned. suck, wait, thats my alter ego... oh. Damn._

_ Wot was Kate thinking 'couldn't'? could it b that *blank* lol. All will b revealed in the next chap (but every1 will still b wearing pants so its still G)_

_AHAHAHAHA_

_I think I had to much sugar in my milo... meh, its fun to stay up late :P_


	9. Chapter 9

A bit less then an hour later the main column of dragons came out of the tunnel and into the bright of the mid afternoon sun. A few of the dragons made to take off but Terrador roared at them, and they immediately dropped back to the ground looking rather sheepish.

"No one goes off alone!" Terrador roared across the crowd. "This city still has enemy forces inside of it! So everyone will be cautious."

After a moment of silence Terrador turned to Cyril and Volteer. "We shall lead, and clear the way to the main temple. With any luck, that is Frost and Shade would have taken Spyro and Cynder if they found them."

Volteer and Cyril nodded in agreement, and quickly took to the air. Terrador wasn't even tempted to follow them, as a Dragon of Earth he knew his place was on the ground.

Without needing any orders several armored dragons jumped into the air, quickly catching up to the two Guardians. A moment after they were in the air, a crimson dragon appeared at Terrador's side.

The dragon was easily a head shorter then Terrador but was just a muscular. His chest scales were a lustrous white and his wings, heavily torn along their edges, were a pale pink. His wings were noticeable smaller then most dragons, which made it harder for him to get into the air. Most of his body was covered in scars with his snout having the most. The scars were layered on top of each other, a result of his habit of sticking his nose were it shouldn't be. But his skill with his fire element combined with his brute strength and shear dumb luck had seen him survive even the worst that the war had thrown at him.

"Brucia," the red dragon turned to face Terrador as a sign of respect, "we shall clear the path from the ground. Keep your eyes out for Spyro and Cynder, in case Shade and Frost didn't find them."

"Yes Guardian," Brucia inclined his head to Terrador before signaling to the other senior Guard Commanders. Five dragons, wearing light amour plating came out of the crowd. "We're clearing a path to the temple, arrange your soldiers to protect the civilians. Expect surprise attacks from above, and keep your eyes out for Spyro and Cynder."

Back in the temple Cynder, with Spyro's help and against Rose's will, was hesitantly getting up from her bed. "You should be resting young one... you are still very weak." Rose, again, told her. There was a slight tinge of annoyance in her voice that Cynder wouldn't listen to her.

"I just want, to stretch my legs a bit." Was Cynder's response.

Rose let out an annoyed growl and stormed out of the room, leaving the two dragons alone. In the dull corridor Rose went up to the room Meadow and Shade had moved Jade into. Shade and Frost were sitting outside the room and they watched, slightly amused, as Rose stormed into the room.

Jade was buried under several layers of blankets but was still shivering. Turning her nose up at him she spotted Meadow and Pine on the far side of the room staring at her. Rose sighed deeply before crossing the room and joining them.

After a few moments of silence Meadow spoke. "What happened?" Rose snorted slightly, "She refused to stay in her bed."

Meadow and Pine glanced at each other before bursting into laughter.

Spyro and Cynder chuckled lightly as Rose left the room. After a few moments of silence only broken by the soft padding of their feet on the cold floor Spyro spoke. "She is right you know. You should save your strength."

"I know, but I really needed to get up, even just for a moment..." Cynder's voice had a tinge of sadness on it so Spyro nuzzled her cheek gently.

The next few minutes passed in silence, Spyro could feel Cynder slowly put more of her weight onto him. He was about to tell her to go back to bed when Kate appeared in the room.

Both dragons jumped slightly when they noticed her, she smiled softly to herself before grabbing the two palm sized red crystals and throwing them to Cynder. The crystals flew straight into Cynder.

Cynder herself only blinked as the tingling sensation washed down through her body, healing the scar that Rose hadn't been able to prevent forming and replenishing her energy levels. Spyro cocked his head as he stared blankly at Kate. Cynder's mysterious saviour had a few tricks up her sleeve. Healing crystals were extremely rare, especially ones as strong as what she had just given Cynder... And he could have sworn that Shade had told her, and was forcing her, to stay in one of the other rooms.

As if reading Spyro's mind, Kate spoke, "Shade only, _suggested, _I stay in the room, for my own safety of course." A grin had crept onto her face and the two dragons couldn't help but smile a bit to. Taking her weight off of Spyro, Cynder stretched out her neck, feeling several of the joints pop. "Thank you Darra."

Spyro glanced at Cynder, but missed the chance to ask Kate or Darra, about her names as heavy wing beats outside the temple echoed through the building. Not a moment later Shade appeared at the door. "The Guardians are here."

Spyro and Cynder were quickly lead out by Shade, leaving Kate by herself. Not that she minded. Sighing to herself, she tried to think of something to say. By the time she had walked over to the room Jade was, she still hadn't thought of what she was going to say.

Poking her head in she saw that, apart from Jade resting in the centre of the room, it was empty. Slipping inside, a floor board creaked and Jade's leg twitched.

"Jade, I know your awake."

There was a moment of silence before Jade rolled over to face her. He stared at her as she stood just a few metres away, she went to talk but he beat her to it. "Go away."

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_Yush, i am still alive, and the story will have a few new chapters soon...? (hopefully)_


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